We’re Mind the mental health charity. We’re here to make sure anyone with a mental health problem has somewhere to turn for advice and support. Contents Foreword 4 About Us 6 Service Overview 8 Advice and Information 8 Art Group 8 Bring and Share Lunch 8 Counselling 8 Open Mind (Peer Support) 10 Men’s Shed 10 Mental Heath Navigator Service 11 Wellbeing Courses 12 Strategy 2016-21 14 Financial Reports 16 Staff Directory 19 Funding bodies and Donators 20 Foreword We want anyone experiencing mental health distress to get access to the right services and support at the right time, to aid in their recovery and to enable them to live fuller lives. We do this by developing and delivering excellent local services that reach out to more people than ever before, and work at a strategic level to develop better health and social care systems across Northamptonshire. We enable individuals experiencing mental health problems to get support, empowering them in making informed choices about how they live, recover, and through our services we are enabling those people who are at risk of mental health problems to stay well and to continue to lives fuller lives within their community. Our advice and information service, wellbeing courses and our Mental Health Navigator project works across Northamptonshire helping us to reach out further into the community, and our counselling service is used by people from across the county. We offer people with lived experience of mental health problems the opportunity to get involved at Wellingborough Mind, we have more than 80% of our workforce using their own mental health experience to help develop and shape our services in every area of our organization, increasing the opportunity for individuals to participate fully in society, reduce stigma, campaign for better services, and ensure that our work is truly led by the community that we choose to support. Despite the challenging economic climate, we are on target to continue growing inline with our strategic plan, our board work towards minimizing risk to the charity, and are working positively towards the development of new services Thank you to everyone who has supported us over the past year you are truly making a difference to people lives. Nigel Mansfield, Chief Executive. We campaign to reduce the We supported more than stigma associated with mental 700 people through our health through social media and services over the year local events Feedback About Us Wellingborough Mind is a charity with a focus on mental health. We campaign on behalf of people with lived experience, provide support across Wellingborough and Northamptonshire delivering services, sharing information through activities, telephone contact, publications, social media and our website. Our beneficiaries include the one in four adults who will experience mental distress in any one year, and the wider population whose wellbeing we aim to improve and maintain. Our Vision We won’t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets both support and respect. Our Mission We provide advice and support to empower anyone experiencing a mental health problem. We campaign to improve services, raise awareness and promote understanding. Our Objectives > Promote better mental health by providing services to combat mental distress and informing our local community on positive wellbeing > Promote healthier lifestyles > Collaborate with other local and national agencies to ensure an outward looking approach > Support those with enduring mental health issues > Invest in therapies and activities > Increase our ability to be self-sufficient to give us the opportunity to fund new projects Our values Open: We reach out to anyone who needs us Together: We're stronger in partnership Responsive: We listen, we act Independent: We speak out fearlessly Unstoppable: We never give up What makes us different? We have a reputation as a provider of excellent services leading to positive outcomes for people and the communities we work with. Our organisation is assessed using a national framework “Mind Quality Mark” which covers areas that includes Leadership, Resource, Values, and Services. We thrive on being an organisation that has people with experience of mental health needs throughout our workforce, from volunteers, staff and members of the board ensuring that service users voices are heard throughout our work. Strength and Quality We benefit from both a local, countywide, and national perspective and approach. When we are developing and designing new services, we work not from scratch, but with the resource of shared experiences and learning from across the network. The vast knowledge available is mixed with local expertise and innovation. Commissioners, funders and those using our services all have the peace of mind provided by our bespoke Mind Quality Management framework. We take part in an annual quality assurance process as part of our affiliation agreement with Mind. The framework embeds the Charity Commission’s Hallmarks of an Effective Charity. This means we can be confident that our Local Mind is a well run, well governed and capable organisation, going beyond its basic obligations as a charity. Unique and effective Mind has been working in Northamptonshire since 1978 and are making a real difference to the lives of people living with mental health issues. Our values are at the heart of everything we do. We put people first, and this leads to positive outcomes. We are proud that the people who benefit from our services are embedded in our organisations, involved in service design and delivery and in our governance. Our focus is on resilience and recovery, meeting the unique needs of each individual. The network Our strong relationship between our local Mind, the other local Minds in Northamptonshire, and Mind nationally. The 2018-21 national strategy ‘Building on Change’ commits the network to deliver mores services, provide more information and help improve the wellbeing of our communities. This strategic work created Network Futures; a five-year plan to enable growth, increase sustainability and build a stronger federation. This was jointly developed by local Minds with a vision that by 2021 we will be the most efficient and effective federated network we can be, with a partnership approach to everything that we do, reaching more people with mental health problems than ever before. Diversity and disability The Mind network is strongly committed to supporting the diversity of staff and volunteers through equal opportunity policies and practice. Wellingborough Mind encourages applications from those who consider themselves disabled, particularly those who have experience of mental distress. Over 80% of our workforce either have lived experience or support someone with mental health problems. One of our strategic focuses is to look at how we support and encourage people from black, minority, and ethnic (BME) communities to access mental health services, we are working with Northamptonshire Health Foundation Trust on the Moving Ahead project with a focus on improving services for people from BME backgrounds. Service Overview Advice and Information Our weekly advice and information service continues to grow and we were able to offer support to 179 appointments this year. The service is open to the general public and offers information both about our service and other mental health services in the area. We provide a non- judgemental listening ear and a safe space where someone can talk and be offered support to best suit their needs. We have clients that utilise this service for a safe space and do not go on to use any of our other services and we also have clients that accessed our advice and information service and have went on to have counselling, attend our wellbeing courses, art group, peer support, mental health navigator support and 1:1 support. We also signpost to a more specialist area of their concern i.e. for finances, housing via community law, citizen’s advice bureau, specialist trauma support. The service has received positive feedback in relation to our advice and information service and have offered occasional appointments outside of the aforementioned day and times to better suit someone accessing support. Our staff and volunteers provide the support and we continue to offer further development opportunities for both to further develop their skills, thus improving and being of benefit to mind and everyone accessing our services for support. We currently have a volunteer that has supported and worked within our advice and information service and has progressed and is now a volunteer counsellor. Our volunteer receptionist has also moved onto support clients in our advice and information service. We ask clients attending the advice and information service for feedback on their experience, we also allow them to comment and suggest improvements to this service. Below is a summary of the feedback we gained from clients: 89 % of clients who attended this service felt better after their session. 88% of clients would recommend this service to others. Really relaxed atmosphere and made me feel welcome. Felt comfortable to talk about what my issues are and how I felt for what has happened to me.” Advice and Information Service Art Group Our Art group continues to provide a quiet environment for people to feel relaxed, connected and express their creative side. As well as a space for being creative the group helps to reduce isolation faced by people living with long term conditions. We use some of the artwork from this group to decorate our resource centre and make it a more welcoming environment for everyone. Bring and Share Lunch Club Alongside our peer support groups we host a “Bring and Share” lunch on the first Wednesday of every month. The group continues to be successful with more people enjoying this service each month and also has professionals attending. This year the “Locality Connectors” and “Together” have brought service users along with them in the hope that they feel comfortable accessing any of our services that they may want to access in the future here at Wellingborough Mind.