Our impact during lockdown

Following the easing of lockdown, we were keen to know the impact of our remote and online services for people who have accessed support.  

In the last 12 months we have delivered a blend of wellbeing calls and online support to maintain vital contact with people with technology and those without. We know that lockdown services are no substitute for our normal service activities and we have started to deliver some face to face external activities and we are working on expanding our safety-led reopening plan, now that it is safer to do so.

We are a dedicated team working to make a positive impact on the lives of people experiencing mental health challenges. From March 2020 – March 2021 we provided over 9,939 online or remote information and support services.

Service impact

Mind staff helped me make contact with mental health services when my brother became ill. The person I spoke with was reassuring and very helpful.

The workshops were excellent and helped me find ways of coping with lockdown.

Sometimes Mind were the only people I heard from all week. Lockdown was a very lonely, frightening time.

The technology took a while to master but then it was plain sailing. It’s a good way to connect.

It has been good to learn about art on line and visit so many interesting museums and places. 

The training  is excellent and increased my knowledge and  mental health skills. 

I have missed the wildlife garden but it has been good to connect with the tutors online.

The tutor took us through upcycling a TV unit step by step.  We put it on ebay to raise funds for Mind and raised £100.

Our IT tutor got us individual laptops so that we could carry on with our training.

Speak Your Mind: key highlights

We asked people who access Mind services about their experience over the last 12 months.

One of the benefits on accessing online services is feeling that someone is out there.

Without Mind online services I don’t know what I would have done.  They have been a life saver for me.

We asked about some of the challenges with online support:

I am missing face to face meetings as online can be difficult to really connect with people, especially if anxious about talking or being seen on camera.  Hard to read people or know how you are coming across.  If my mood is low I can disappear into myself and find it hard to focus.

Not everyone has access.

I do not want to access online services.

I don’t have much data on my phone to access the services I would like.

I was alone and my IT skills were very limited.

Poor internet connection

Dealing with social anxiety and getting involved.

Not the same as being with people.

We asked about some of the benefits of online support:

Feeling part of a group or community.

It has given me a goal for the day to at least have some contact with people in a similar situation. i.e. those suffering from mental health issues pre Covid.  Sharing and learning has been beneficial.

I feel I still have contact with the outside world and I can get support for my mental health.

Not feeling so alone

The comfort of being at home.

Having access to services, especially as I suffer from agoraphobia and anxiety.  My OCD on occasion has stopped me participating in person.

Thank you to all the people who took part in this survey – for your honesty and your continuing courage through this challenging time.

Whether delivering support services or working behind the scenes to deliver comms and marketing, finance, administration, quality, development, fundraising and management, Mind staff have been amazingly creative, imaginative and resilient; often juggling home schooling, concerns about friends and family, personal experiences of Coronavirus and illness, wrestling with temperamental technology and managing their own experience of Covid-19 and lockdown. Thank you all.

Mary Fotheringham, Director