Oxfordshire Mind Annual Review 2011

Promoting good mental health through the provision of high quality services with active user participation; and through lobbying and campaigning for positive change.

Oxfordshire Mind Annual Review 2011

Oxford United Football Club players: Liam Davis, Wayne Brown and Damian Batt promoting the 2011 ‘1 in 4’ Legged Race

Our Management Senior Management Team:

Board of Trustees:

Patrick Taylor (Director) Stuart Reid (Head of Community Services) Anne Clarke (Head of Housing Services)

Sue Ackers John Copley (Chair) Mike Farwell Nick Georgiou Kate Helsby Carloyn McKee (Secretary) Katharine Nicholas Nisha Sharma Smitty Snowden Tony Talbot (Vice Chair)

Oxfordshire Mind, 2 Kings Meadow, Osney Mead, Oxford OX2 0DP Oxfordshire Mind is Registered Charity Number 261476 Registered Company Number 4343625 Photo: Oxford United mascot Ollie the Ox with the Mind ‘Stress Ball’ at the Love Your Mind bus tour in Bonn Square, Oxford.

Contents

Introduction

4

Objectives for the Year

5

Community Services

6

Benefits for Better Mental Health

7

Volunteers

8

Carers Support Group

8

IAPT TalkingSpace

9

Housing

10

Information and Raising Awareness

11

Finance Report

12

Acknowledgements

14

INTRODUCTION

Introduction from the Chair and Director In common with a large number of charities in England, despite the generosity of our individual contributors, Oxfordshire Mind remains reliant upon securing significant funding from the public sector. 2010/2011 was an unusual and challenging year for us, dominated by uncertainty around the future of Mind services and the end of our existing funding contracts with the County Council and the NHS. Any continuing or new funding was dependent on the outcome of a competitive tendering process which was extraordinarily protracted, complex and time consuming.

Beyond Oxfordshire, we want to acknowledge the work of the wider Mind network. Oxfordshire Mind is one of over 150 Mind associations in England and Wales - giving us a greater opportunity to influence national policy and enabling us to draw on a rich resource of ideas and experience.

We hope you enjoy reading this Annual Review. If you would like to know more about any aspect of our work, please get in touch.

Whilst we fully understand that this funding must be linked to open tendering procedures, we were highly conscious of the impact that this process would have upon the organisation as a whole. We needed to put in additional work into the tendering process whilst at the same time continuing to deliver the high quality daily services that are core to Oxfordshire Mind.

Which was why we so were delighted when at the end of it all we were successful in achieving new contracts to deliver a countywide Wellbeing Service and new Supported Housing services in partnership with Response.

It was great news and a credit to the hardworking team who worked on the tender submissions along with the Mind service users who helped us at each stage testing out our ideas and joining the Mind panel for the final interviews.

With the tendering process behind us we can now get on with making the most of the opportunities that come with the new services. What used to be our Community Resource Projects become the cornerstone of the new ‘Wellbeing Service’, our housing projects develop for the first time beyond Oxford into the rest of Oxfordshire, and we will be doing more than ever to raise awareness and challenge the stigma associated with mental ill health.

Thanks go to all those who have made this possible over the past year - whether as service users, staff, volunteers or trustees - and, of course, to our funders and many supporters. In particular we want to acknowledge our colleagues at Response who worked alongside us every step of the way in designing the new housing services.

4

John Copley (Chair) & Patrick Taylor (Director)

”I am more confident than I have ever been about achieving personal goals, one of which is being able to live independently on my own.”

- Mind Housing service user

In developing our services we look to: • • •

Improve access (so that we reach people who are unlikely to use more traditional mental health

services)

Deepen our impact (so that engagement with our services leads to sustained positive improvements for people with mental health problems) Focus on recovery (so that we promote independence, support people to take risks, and open up mainstream opportunities)

OBJECTIVES

Objectives for the year

Our objectives for the year included: Support service users through a period of uncertainty and change Level of use of Mind services remained high • There were over 30,000 visits to Mind Community Resource Projects • Over 3,000 people were referred to the IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) service run in partnership with the NHS • Occupancy levels in our housing services were consistently above 95% Feedback was overwhelmingly positive with the annual survey revealing • 93% of services users reported their overall experience of Mind services was ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ • 76% rated Mind as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ at managing change.

Adapt Mind services to sustain funding through the competitive tendering process Through the long tendering process held by the County Council and the Primary Care Trust we organised ourselves to: • Use our specialist knowledge to positively influence the service specification • Understand commissioner’s priorities and the preferences of potential service users • Work to bring down costs by identify efficiencies and savings • Present a coherent and deliverable model of services in the tender submission to better meet the changing needs of mental health service users This work culminated in successful bids being made to provide a countywide Wellbeing Service and new Supported Housing services in partnership with Response.

Work with Response to develop our supported housing services Over the year Oxfordshire Mind and Response worked closely together to • Create a joint referral process to reduce bureaucracy and help people access our services • Establish the Housing Pathway Project to improve access to the private rented housing • Share resources, reduce costs and submit tenders for mental health supported housing services across Oxfordshire • Commence the delivery of new housing services using shared resources and joint systems across both organisations

Increase our work with the national ‘Time to Change’ Campaign to challenge the stigma of mental distress and mental illness • • • •

Full programme of ‘Mind Talks’ with high profile speakers (including Oliver James, Margaret Drabble, AL Kennedy and Jan Pieńkowski) High profile awareness raising campaign with Oxford United Football Club Work with the Library Service to raise awareness and promote ‘Books on Prescription’ Reaching more people through Facebook, Twitter and the Oxfordshire Mind website (over 10,000 ‘pageviews’ per month).

5

COMMUNITY SERVICES

Community Services One of the biggest pieces of work for Mind this year has been the tendering process for the ‘Keeping People Well’ contract for services and, once we had the great news that our bid was successful, the work continued with the transition from our Community Resource Projects structure to the Oxfordshire Mind Wellbeing Service.

Despite the uncertainty that surrounded the future of services for a large part of the year, the work in Community Resource Projects kept on going strong and this was to the credit of the workers and volunteers whose energy and enthusiasm remained high throughout the process. For the year 2010 – 2011 there were over 30,000 visits to Mind Community Resource Projects, matching the number from the previous year.

A prominent theme in Community Resources was the increased partnership working and use of community based venues for services. A few of the many examples are: Sports and fitness sessions were run in partnership with leisure centres in Chipping Norton, Kidlington, Abingdon and Blackbird Leys; a service for women from diverse backgrounds, ‘World Wide Women’ was formed in partnership with Home Start, the Primary Care Trust and Restore; there were exhibitions by service users for Oxfordshire Artweeks; Mind in Abingdon provided services and information in an empty shop space in the town centre; a partnership with Oxford United Football Club was formed to provide wellbeing courses for men; and work with people in employment developed with the expansion of the Late Shift evening service. The services continued to develop and all this work has informed and shaped the new Wellbeing Service.

The Oxfordshire Mind Wellbeing Service was launched on 7 March 2011. It provides a range of new services to help people understand mental ill-health, help them identify what keeps them well and offer practical support to help them along a pathway to recovery. The service is open to anyone in need.

The service is organised as discrete steps, as follows:

Many elements of the Wellbeing Service are the same as the Community Resource Projects, but it is structured differently. One of the main differences being that we are now specifically funded to provide Public Wellbeing Improvement (Step 1). These activities will be within businesses, education and training providers and local communities.

Above all, the new service aims at increasing access by building on the previous work to bring mental health and wellbeing community services to more community settings and in more parts of the county by working in partnership with a wide range of different organisations.

6

The Mind Benefits for Better Mental Health Project provides specialist benefits advice to people affected by mental health problems across Oxfordshire.

The service is funded by the Big Lottery until 2013 and is now enhanced with an additional post supporting people in the Mind wellbeing service and Restore employment services. The service has helped around 1,000 people each year and helped increase their benefit uptake by over £3,000,000.

The past year has been particularly challenging with major changes announced to the welfare benefits system. Those on Incapacity Benefit or Income Support will be migrated to Employment Support Allowance; Disability Living Allowance will be abolished and significant changes to housing benefit will also come into effect.

demand will continue to rise in 2012 as more people are migrated to the new benefits.

In addition to providing support to help people through these changes we have been pleased to work with national Mind who have campaigned for policy change at a national level. Certainly all the indications from our experience are that the reforms being introduced will have a detrimental impact on those with mental health problems. Many people will lose entitlement through failing the Work Capability Assessment, others will lose out through the uncertainty created by the changes which see the welfare benefit system undermined and claimants further stigmatised.

BENEFITS FOR BETTER MENTAL HEALTH

Benefits for Better Mental Health

Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) statistics show that in Oxfordshire: •

over 9,000 people receive Incapacity Benefit

•

18,000 receive Disability Living Allowance

•

42% of claimants have mental health prob lems as their primary condition

•

10% have it as their secondary condition

The DWPs own estimates are that up to 60% of people currently on Incapacity Benefit will be deemed ‘fit for work’ by the new Work Capacity Assessment and will lose benefit entitlement.

The Mind Benefits Project has experienced a significant increase in demand as a result of these changes, with people needing additional help to guide them through the changes. There has been a particularly noticeable increase in the numbers of people needing support though the appeals process.

The DWP appeal process is lengthy, confusing and often difficult to navigate. However appeals can be very important and indicate the weakness of a lot of the original decision making. DWP figures are that nationally 40% of Work Capability Assessments are overturned at appeal. But our experience is even more stark with over 90% of cases the Project supported through to appeal having their original decision changed and benefit entitlement reinstated.

In 2009 our Benefits Project completed almost 80 appeals. In 2010 it was over 180. In 2011 we expect to complete 300 appeals and can only expect the

Above: music group in the vacant shop space in Abingdon

7

VOLUNTEERING & CARERS SUPPORT

Volunteering Volunteers contribute a huge amount to the organisation and we are grateful for all their involvement.

Over 120 people have been involved as volunteers in a range of important roles including supporting the work of Community Services, the Benefits for Better Mental Health Service, helping out in the office and serving on our Board of Trustees.

In 2010, we were awarded funding from the Dept of Health ‘Innovation and Excellence and Service Development Fund’ to helped us extend our work to recruit, train and support more volunteers from Black and Minority Ethnic communities. The project is called Chain Reaction and aims at increasing access of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) people to community-based mental health services. We are committed to making our services more accessible to people from Black and Minority Ethnic communities because we realise that: •

Community-based mental health support is under-used by people from BME communities, while

•

A disproportionate number of people from BME communities are admitted to, and compulsorily detained in, psychiatric hospitals.

We believe that a more diverse work force will encourage more people from BME communities to try out our mental health services. In the context of Chain Reaction, ‘Black or Minority Ethnic’ means anyone who would not describe themselves as ‘white British’ – whether African or Caribbean, Nigerian or Nepali, Bangladeshi or Brazilian, Pakistani or Polish, Chinese or Czech. The more diverse our workforce, the more we hope people from all backgrounds will feel comfortable using our services.

“The group has equipped me with the tools I need for the rest of my life. A life changing experience.”

- Mind service user

8

Carers Support Group One of the oldest Oxfordshire Mind groups, the Carer’s Support Group, continues to meet monthly as a support group for carers, relatives and friends of people with mental health problems. In August 2011, we received a grant from national Mind’s LMA (Local Mind Association) Fund for new resources for the Group including a computer and some improvements to the Carers information on the Oxfordshire Mind website. These resources have enhanced the practical support and sign-posting that the group is able to offer, which can be equally as valuable as emotional support to people who find themselves in the position of being a carer without any knowledge of mental illness, mental health services or benefits entitlement.

Below: the cafe at The Mill

Below: Housing Worker, Barbara Blandford, is interviewed

by BBC Radio Oxford’s Louisa Hannan for World Mental Health Day

Depression and anxiety blights the lives of thousands in Oxfordshire, leaving people feeling stuck, alone & frightened. The TalkingSpace service (which is a partnership between Mind and Oxford Health NHS Trust) uses psychological therapies that work to help people struggling with depression and anxiety, helping people move forward and recover. Since the service started in 2009 over 7,500 people have used the service which has good recovery rates (the proportion of people no longer depressed or anxious after treatment) and excellent patient satisfaction rates (up to 92% in a recent service user survey).

These services or treatments include: • • •

•

Self help materials – a range of books and leaflets to use with support from a trained Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner Computerised CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) – computer packages for people with access to a computer Group Cognitive Behaviour Therapy Depression, Anxiety and Managing Self Esteem therapy groups delivered across the county.

Individual Cognitive Behavioural Therapy face to face CBT offered by either a Clinical Psychologist or a Cognitive Behaviour Thera pist from one of twenty-seven sites across the county.

In March 2011, the TalkingSpace service celebrated its second birthday and this coincided with the launch of self-referral ‘Improve your Mood’ workshops – a free service open to anyone. The workshops focus on how to combat stress, worry and low mood using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) based skills.

Attendees may gain everything they need from the one-day workshop, or it may provide a stepping stone to access other elements of the service. The workshop programme is being developed and expanded to help more people and, in particular to reach more older adults, black & minority ethnic communities and people with physical health problems.

TALKING SPACE

IAPT TalkingSpace

We were pleased to see recognition for TalkingSpace this year with the service highlighted as a positive practice case study in a national report from the national ‘We Need to Talk’ campaign, which calls for the NHS to improve the provision of evidence based psychological therapies.

Chinese Community Advice Group partnership with the Mind Wellbeing Service

9

HOUSING

Housing In April 2010, Mind and Response launched the Mind Response Housing Partnership. Both organisations have a 30 year track record in providing high quality, flexible and innovative mental health housing services. Together, the two organisations house and support well over 250 people across a full range of provision. The partnership was formed based on a shared focus of working locally in Oxfordshire and exclusively in mental health.

In December 2010, we received the fantastic news that the Mind Response Housing Partnership won the tender for the Supported to Independent Living contract funded by the Primary Care Trust and the Oxfordshire County Council ‘Supporting People’ team. This meant that from 7 March 2011, Mind would continue to run supported housing services and, for the first time, the service would be countywide, rather than operating in Oxford City alone.

Services now run in partnership with Response include: One Front Door - a single point of access and the gateway into the full range of Mind and Response housing services.

Above: The music room at The Mill

Transitional ‘Supported to Independent Living’ supported accommodation services - helping people out of homelessness or through the transition from high level services including inpatient wards.

The Housing Pathway Project - widening the range of options for people in housing need by opening up access to private rented sector housing.

Working with Response has been a great experience and we want to thank John McLaughlin and all his colleagues. Working together really makes sense. We plan and think together and we share resources for training, recruitment, IT systems and much more. It means we are able to be more effective and more efficient and it also means that service users have a wider range of housing options than either of us could offer on our own.

“I felt safe and as if stability was finally returning to my life” - Mind Housing service user 10

Above: part of The Button Forest art installation at the Restore cafe for World Mental Health Day 2011

Raising Awareness

Up until April 2010, Mind ran Oxfordshire Mental Health Information Service in partnership with Oxfordshire Mental Health Matters. After 16 years at the heart of the local community, Mental Health Matters’ Information and Advocacy Services sadly closed on 31 March 2010 due to a lack of funding.

Mind then took on full ownership of the Information Service. We valued all our work with Mental Health Matters over the years and miss their contribution the local mental health scene.

Quality, accurate information is a vitally important part of the local service provision and we have endeavoured to carry on this work and continue to provide information services during a time of great change and uncertainty.

Now integrated with the Wellbeing Service, Oxfordshire Mental Health Information still provides a vital resource for people needing information about conditions, treatments or services, but is also a starting point for many using the Wellbeing Service. As well as the telephone line, website and email service, people can access face-to-face information at the many Information and Options sessions across the county.

Awareness is hugely important on many levels.

That’s why we value our link with national campaigns to tackle stigma and discrimination faced by people suffering from mental distress. Fear creates a barrier to so many in need of support and by changing public attitudes, we will ultimately help give more people the confidence to get the help they need, as soon as they start to need it.

We now have a full time Information Officer, as well as a part-time Information and Public Wellbeing Co-ordinator, who will manage, maintain and develop the service, aiming to increase the accessibility of quality, accurate information on mental health.

In order to keep up with the rapid development of social media, and the changing ways that people receive information, we launched a new website in January 2011 and have been increasing the use of communication by e-newsletters and social networking sites. The new website receives an average of 110 visits per day and we currently have over 320 followers on Twitter, a number that is growing all the time.

INFORMATION & AWARENESS

Information

With support from national Mind and the Time to Change initiative, we have been able to put on some very successful awareness events over the past year. National Mind’s ‘Love Your Mind’ doubledecker bus tour made a stop in Oxford for the day on 7 July 2011. We have also used resources from national Mind and Time to Change to inform and enhance presentations and exhibitions at workplaces, colleges and at festivals such as Oxford Pride and Cowley Carnival.

The partnership with Oxford United Football Club continues to be a success with regular opportunities to raise awareness. The ‘1 in 4’ Legged Race features in both the 2010 and 2011 Annual Review, and Oxford United mascot, Ollie the Ox has been popping up at Mind events and fundraisers to show support.

Guest speakers at events this year have included: Oliver James, Gwen Ashead, children’s author Jan Pienkowski, Shami Chakrabati and Margaret Drabble. Talks from high profile speakers are an excellent means of reaching new audiences in the county.

Awareness has become an even bigger part of Mind’s work as it is now something that we are funded to do as part of the Wellbeing Service.

This will help further develop our links with other organisations, our presence in the community and at local events and, we hope, will help to start to improve the general mental wellbeing of Oxfordshire!

Patrick Taylor at the Love Your Mind Bus Tour with the Mayor of Oxford, Elise Benjamin

11

FINANCE REPORT

Finance Report The year 2010/2011 was a difficult year dominated by the end of our funding contracts with the County Council and the NHS. As is reported elsewhere in this Review we were ultimately successful through the competitive tendering process in achieving new contracts to deliver a countywide Wellbeing Service and new Supported Housing services in partnership with Response. This means we can now look forward to being able to plan for the future with more certainty over our core funding!

Income for the year was £2,848,000 and expenditure was £2,924,000 - with the expenditure including building works to our service in Cowley funded from a grant received in the previous financial year.

The principal funding sources during the year have been: •

Funding contracts with Oxfordshire Primary Care Trust Joint Commissioning Team (which also covers funding from Oxfordshire County Council under a Pooled Budget arrangement) towards the provision of the Mind Community Resource Projects up until March 2011.

Funding contracts with the Oxfordshire Supporting People Team for the provision of ‘housing related support’ to people with mental health problems up until March 2011 New funding contracts with the NHS starting March 2011 for the Oxfordshire Wellbeing service and the Transitional Supported Accommodation services Contract with Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust for the provision of the IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) service Rent (primarily rent related to Mind Housing Projects) Grants from Charitable Trusts, Department of Health, and the Big Lottery Fund Donations, bequests and money raised through fundraising events.

• • •

OMMY NONSE CORE

• • •

Yet again this year we have put considerable effort into local fundraising both from grant giving charitable trusts and through fundraising events. There are several aspects of our work that depend entirely on local fundraising and we are very grateful to all those individuals, companies and organisations that have helped us financially. One glance at the list on page 14 will show just how many people and organisations have helped us during the past year! We are also grateful to Nichola Clargo, Christine Hallett and our Auditors (AJ Carter & Company) for their help in managing and auditing our finances.

Mike Farwell, Treasurer

Statement of Financial Activities 2010 - 2011 2010 - 2011

2009 - 2010

Incoming Resources

£

£

Voluntary income

43,457

42,570

Activities for generating funds

5,272

32,837

Investment income

7,529

7,703

Incoming resources from charitable service

2,791,927

2,832,375

Total incoming resources

12

2,848,185

2,915,485

£

£

Resources Expended

£

£

Costs of generating voluntary income

3,995

3,647

Charitable activities

2,893261

2,532,194

Governance costs

27,078

19,837

Total Resources Expended

2,924,334

2,555,678

£

£

£

Net Income for the Year

(76,149)

(359,807)

Total Funds brought forward

2,244,260

1,884,453

Total Funds carried forward

2,168,111

2,244,260

Joint Commission Team (PCT and County Council Supporting People Grant 5%

3%

2%

Oxford Health NHS Trust

FINANCE REPORT

Where does the money come from?

Rents

13%

37% 24%

16%

Grants including Big Lottery Fund Donations, Bequests, Subscriptions, Fundraising Activities Management Fees, bank interest & other income

Where does the money go to?

3%

Staff costs

1%

Premisis 26%

Other direct costs 66%

Support costs Governance costs

4%

Costs of generating voluntary income (0%)

13

THANK YOU

Thank you

14

Our work throughout 2010/11 would not have been possible without the kind support of our funders, friends and donors. So... here’s an enormous thank you to the following trusts, companies, churches and other organisations who have supported Oxfordshire Mind over the year: A2 Dominion Housing Group Abingdon and Witney College Added Ingredients Agilent Technologies UK Limited Alison’s Animals Asda Supermarket Aziz Restaurant BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford Get Active Walkers Besom Best Mates Brewery Bicester Town Council Big Lottery Advice Plus Programme Biggles Hair Black Country Living Museum Blenheim Palace Blurd Band Bookers Wholesale Bookpoint Limited Boots Chemist Bridewell Organic Gardens Brightwell Bees Broughton Castle Burford Garden Centre Business Change Partners Cake Sweet Cake Carterton Town Hall Central Barbers Charter Plus Cherwell District Council Chiltern Railways Cotswold Wildlife Park Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway Dedicated Wines Limited Department of Health IESD Fund Didcot Wave DLM Charitable Trust Doris Field Charitable Trust Enstone Flying Club Ernst & Young Every Hippies Dream Band Everything Health and Beauty Fantasia Bridal Shop Fabulous Baking Boys Fat Lils Music & Commedy Club First Great Western Railway GR Cycles Green King Plc Hadden Hill Golf Club Hagbourne Parochial Church Council Harriers Ground Community Primary School Heart FM Homegoods House of Cards

Hugo’s Auctions Infineum Smile Liz Evans Beauty Jack FM Jamal’s Indian Restaurant Jambinos Karting Oxford KBO Morris Dancers Kidlington & Gosford Sports Centre Kidlington & Gosford School Knight & Sons Lloyds Chemist and Pharmacy Loose Cannon Brewery Lush Martines Beauty Spot Marwell Wildlife Midcounties Co-op Supermarkets Miele Company Limited Milk and More Millets Garden Centre MJC Consulting Monks and Crane Mostly Books Morgan Cole National Westminster Bank Community Fund National Mind Niace Norton’s Restaurant & Bar Oxford Bus Museum Oxfam Oxford Citizens Housing Association Oxford City Council Oxford Ixion Motorcycle club Oxford Journal and Courier Newspapers Oxford Mail and Times Oxford Playhouse Oxford River Cruises Oxford, Swindon and Gloucester Co-op Oxfordshire Supporting People Team Oxford University Oxford Brookes Rag Oxford United Football Club Oxford United Youth & Community Trust Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust Oxfordshire County Council Oxfordshire NHS Primary Care Trust Ozone Health Club Papillion Witney Passion FM Paterson Recruitment

Pendon Museum PF Charitable Trust Response Restore Riverside Festival (Charlbury) Sainsbury’s Supermarkets Salters Steamers Snakers and Ladders Snips Hair and Beauty St. Michael’s and All Saints Charities Sunnymead Environmental Group Taylor & Francis Tesco Supermarkets The Cross Keys Pub The Hair Gallery The Hellcats Rock ‘n’ Roll Band The Highwayman Pub The Holly Bush Pub The Finishing Touch The Four Pillars Hotel, Witney and Oxford The Kings Arms Pub, Kidlington The Lions Club of Abingdon The Oxford Powershop The Palace Nightclub The Punter Pub The Randolph Hotel The Swan and Castle The Village Players The Warehouse Tiffany’s Nails Tiffins Tandoori Restaurant Topsport Trinity College Two’s Company Hair Salon Roger Vere Foundation Vue Cinema Waitrose Community Fund Wagon and Horses, Abingdon Wantage & Abingdon Methodist Circuit West Berkshire Brewery White Horse Leisure Centre WH Smith Windrush Leisure Centre Witney Gazette Wychwood Brewery

Eleanor Beard Neal Jefferies Alistair Ricketts

June Clarke Robert Langford Susan Robinson

Anthony Gentle Philip Lynam Eddie Ross

David Hemmings Ian Martin Raymond Worton

Tamsin Humphries Eric Pratley

We would also like to thank individuals who sent donations and supported our fundraising events (including rattling tins and baking cakes, selling raffle tickets, obtaining sponsors, jumping out of aeroplanes, trekking up mountains and other social and challenging events).

Oxfordshire Mind Slovenia Trekkers: Julia Besooijen Benjamin Condon Michelle Fitzgerald Caroline Howkins Graham Lewsey Karen Simpson

Ivan Cadge Debbie Cooper Andrea Gibson Callom Johnston Jill May Val Smith

Charity Challenge Peru Trekkers Lindsey Knott

Colette Graham

Nicky Clargo Judith Essery Bernie Harris Jim King Mary Napper Helen White

Toni Coggins Clare Eves Indy Hiatt Val Lee Peter Sheldon-Battle Shaun Wing

Cycle Challenges and Marathon Runs

Angela and Steve Sanders – Coast to Coast Ann Dennis – London Marathon

Oxfordshire Mind Tandem Sky Divers Emma Freeman James Koston

Sharon Chadwick Raymond Dilworth Julian Gyura Fay Joines Susan Mundy Christopher Rawlings

THANK YOU

We are very grateful to all those who have left legacies and made donations in memory of their friends and loved ones. We are especially grateful to the families and friends of the following people:

Claire Hill-Dixon

Nathan James

Kate Jefferies

Toni Coggins: The Road to Recovery...and Slovenia!

Toni was in a secure unit in hospital for 8 years before she was discharged and referred to one of Oxfordshire Mind’s supported houses, Micklewood House.

After a year at Micklewood, Toni moved to a Mind house with lower support where she shared with one other person for a year.

Toni has now been in her own flat, living independently for a year. In Toni’s words: “I went from having to ask someone whether I could go to the toilet to living in my own flat in 3 years!”.

In June 2010, Toni signed up to take on the challenge of a fundraiser trek in Slovenia in aid of Oxfordshire Mind. Trekkers are required to raise £1,450 as well as training for the physically demanding trek in Slovenia’s mountainous terrain.

“I knew it would be a challenge and I was quite scared. I thought I wouldn’t be able to do all the fundraising.” Toni embarked on a year of training and fundraising, which included long walks most weekends and various street collections. “It sort of took over my life. but the goal of the trek kept me motivated to keep up the training. I struggled a bit but I enjoyed the walks, they helped me to keep moving forward with my recovery.”

“Before going to Slovenia, I had not travelled anywhere since 1992 and I had never been on a plane before the trip so I was a bit nervous. Slovenia is lovely country, the scenery is beautiful and I saw a completely different way of life. The trek itself was really hard work but it was worth it. 30 of us took part in the 5 day trek; they were a lovely group of people and very supportive of each other through the walks.”

“It has been hard but a huge personal achievement. I was so pleased when I’d completed the trek, with a real sense of “I’ve done it!” and I’m really proud of the money I’ve raised for Mind. It’s brilliant to be able to give something back after the support that I’ve received.”

15

General enquiries

Mind Housing

(01865 263730 * info@oxfordshire-mind.org.uk www.oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

Mind Housing Office (01865 263759 *housing@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

Wellbeing Service

www.oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

Cherwell & West Oxfordshire (01993 702999 * cherwellandwest@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk Oxford City (01865 263758 *city@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk South Oxfordshire & The Vale (01235 522096 *southandvale@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

Carers’ Support Group (01865 263735 Meets monthly at the Friends Meeting House

Benefits for Better Mental Health (01865 263757 * bbmh@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

Referrals (01865 397951 *support@mindand response.org.uk

Benefits Hotline (Mon - Thur 10am-1pm)

Housing Pathway Project (01865 397961 *rebekah.gray@ response.org.uk

Mental Health Information Line

TalkingSpace (Oxfordshire IAPT Service) (01865 325777 * talkingspace@nhs.net

(01865 26356

(01865 247788 *omhi@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk www.omhi.org.uk

Chain Reaction (01865 263752 *chainreaction@ oxfordshire-mind.org.uk

Registered Charity Number 261476 Registered Company Number 4343625