12 Meet Mark Hughes Member of our Carers Advisory Board
Donna’s story “Creating
Contributors:
As a much valued member, you can support us by taking part in our campaign that calls on the government to reduce mental health waiting times. Right now people are eight times more likely to wait over 18 months for mental health care than for physical health care, with four in five feeling that their health deteriorated while they waited for treatment. This is unacceptable and needs to change – please turn to pages 10 and 11 to find out how you can help.
I know caring for someone living with mental illness is something many of us are managing day to day, so thank you to Mark Hughes who, on page 10, shares his experience of caring for his wife, and
what groups are available in your area, so do check it out.
And finally, thank you to Donna who has kindly shared her story and experiences of mental illness with us. An important reminder that behind every statistic is a real person trying to manage.
As ever, thank you for continuing to support our work through your membership.
Best wishes,
Mark Winstanley, Chief Executive
Support
simple
Find local peer support groups with our new search tool.
Print with
purpose
We’re proud to share details of our partnership with Print Matters, a new photography platform, who are kindly donating 20% of every sale to our charity!
Their online gallery features and sells limited-edition images from celebrated photographers, including Lawrence Watson, who is offering never-before-seen shots of iconic figures like David Bowie, Oasis, Snoop Dogg, Blur, and Grace Jones. Watson, who has a personal connection to our mission, has said that contributing to Rethink “only makes [going through his archive] more meaningful.” Other featured artists include Peter Angelo Simon, Billy Name and more. Our groups provide empathy, acceptance and reassurance for people who have been through similar experiences. They provide a listening ear, friendship and social support that makes coping with life’s challenges that bit easier.
We’re pleased to share that we’ve added a new search function to our website, making it quick and simple to find out about which peer support groups are running in your area. Just type in your postcode or town and a list of all the support groups closest to you will come up.
To try it for yourself, visit: rethink.org/supportgroups
Stronger, together, forever
A simple guide to gifts in Wills
If you are going to be creating your Will soon then take a look at our free Will-writing guide. It is packed with helpful tips on writing your Will, having those important chats with loved ones, and answers to some of the most common questions. To download a digital copy go to rethink.org/legacy, or email legacyinfo@rethink.org to request a printed copy is sent to you.
National Schizophrenia Awareness Day
Friday 25 July
The day is an opportunity for us to raise awareness of the realities of living with Schizophrenia and how it impacts daily life. Please look out for our campaign on our social media channels where we will be acknowledging that 1 in 100 live with Schizophrenia, and reframing it to show that they also live with the same 99 daily challenges as anyone else.
Our aim with this campaign is to challenge the stigma around schizophrenia by placing the condition within the broader context of human experience, and highlighting both the unique difficulties and the universal challenges we all face. Because, after all, people living with schizophrenia are more than their diagnosis.
Celebrate, Create, Nominate
Get involved with our awards
Our annual Pringle Awards are an opportunity to and honour the incredible people and groups who help make our work supporting those severely affected by mental illness a reality. We now want to shine a spotlight on the passion, creativity, and dedication that deserves to be recognised for 2025.
We are also inviting nominations for our annual Janey Antoniou Award for Campaigning.
It’s simple to get involved! You can submit your nomination for Supporter of the Year or your creative entry by email, post or phone
Janey Antoniou Award
for Campaigning
Enter our campaigners’ award, named in honour of Janey Antoniou, who campaigned and educated people about the realities of living with mental illness.
In partnership with Janey’s family, we celebrate campaigners with lived experience of mental illness.
Pringle awards to enter:
We’re inviting nominations in the following categories:
Supporter of the Year – Do you admire the impact someone you know who volunteers, fundraises or campaigns for us makes? Show your appreciation by nominating them for our Supporter of the Year Award.
Bill Pringle Award for Art (open to people with lived experience)
Bill Pringle Award for Poetry (open to people with lived experience)
This year’s creative theme is "Community". We welcome thoughtful, powerful expressions that explore what community means to you.
You can submit your own art or poetry, or someone else’s (with their permission). Please send copies only, we can’t store or return original artwork.
Groups and services:
We will also celebrate our peer support groups with our Group of the Year Award and our services with our Service of the Year Award. A shortlist for these two awards, based on group and service user feedback, will be put forward to the Council of Rethink judging panel who will then choose a winner.
Our Pringle Awards are named after our founder, John Pringle, and our art and poetry categories are a tribute to his son, Bill Pringle, who lived with schizophrenia and enjoyed writing poetry.
• The award category
• A few words about why they (or you) deserve to win
membership@rethink.org
0121 522 7016
If you call and can’t get through, please leave a message, we will get back to you.
Membership, Freepost Rethink London (no stamp needed)
Prizes and recognition
All nominees will receive a letter from Kathryn Tyson, our Chair of Trustees.
Winners will receive:
• A £100 cash prize
• A certificate and trophy
• An invitation for them and a guest to our Pringle awards presentation event in October, where they will be presented with their award.
Please send in any nominations, artwork or poetry by 10am on Wednesday 20 August.
There is a prize of £1,000 for the winner of the award, and two runners up will receive £100 each.
If you know a passionate campaigner whose hard work deserves to be recognised, we’d love you to nominate them to be our 2025 Campaigner of the Year! You can also nominate yourself, but you will need someone to support your nomination.
The nominee must be someone living with mental illness who has campaigned on mental health, but they do not have to be a Rethink Mental Illness campaigner.
To nominate someone and make sure their determination and hard work is recognised, please visit rethink.org/janey
The deadline for nominations is Sunday 31 August, 11:59pm.
Donna’s story
Creating in the moment
Donna has been exploring her creativity through music, writing and singing, finding that this boosts her mood and lessens her anxiety. She is a proud member of our charity and has found joy in connecting with her community.
I’ve had social anxiety for a few years. I’ve tried many therapies, but for me there's something about creating in the moment. I find it difficult to talk sometimes, especially about my emotions, but I found that participating in creative therapies has given me a way of expressing myself and processing these emotions better. Creativity is something I’m passionate about. It’s given me a sense of purpose, accomplishment and joy; builds up my confidence and self-esteem.
I love writing poetry and short fictional stories, immersing myself in a character and a new sort of world. Writing can be a powerful way to take my thoughts off anxiety and negative emotions, instead releasing positive emotions. I started to go to a poetry community, mixing with more people online. The anxiety was holding me back, but when I started to write these feelings down, make up stories and develop my imagination, the anxiety lessened.
For many people, music can have a great, healing impact, and improves wellbeing. I am currently using musical improvisation, like melody, rhythm and harmony, with my music therapist. I’ve started to play various instruments, like Celtic drum, tambourine and glockenspiel. It boosts my mood and wellbeing, reduces my anxiety and stress. I also sing songs and enjoy lyric writing. I’ll be joining a choir group which will hopefully help me socially.
I know a lot of people are frightened of change, I was frightened of change for a long time. But it’s best to make these changes naturally, like going for a walk with your friends, or in the garden to feed the birds. These rituals then become part of your life.
Anxiety is a lot of thinking about yourself all the time. If you look at the word ‘anxiety’ closely, you’ll see an ‘I’ in the centre. I get fed up of thinking about
myself and my problems. I want to put this energy on other things, like thinking and connecting with others. This is part of the reason why I’ve become a member of Rethink Mental Illness. I love reading other lived experience stories as it helps me connect with my own healing, as well as other people’s.
I hope my lived experience story can help others on the road to recovery and healing.
My membership and the Rethink Advice and Information Service (RAIS) has opened doors of opportunities for me. I’ve gotten practical advice and resources to improve my own wellbeing, confidence and mental health. I became more involved in understanding my own rights under the Mental Health Act. I’ve also had my paintings published online through Rethink. I hope to get more involved to make a difference, raise awareness and have my story inspire others to deal with their feelings in a beneficial way.
Writing poetry, music, stories and practising my faith have become resources in my journey to recovery, both from the challenges faced in dealing with life's storms and helping me to grow as a person. I live in Yorkshire so we have nature around us – the beach, cliffs, sea. It’s lovely to go on a walk to look at the birds and seashore. I then come home, write a poem or paint a picture. It helps me become a part of the world.
Campaigning for change
From devastating delays in mental health treatment to serious failings in the benefits system, people severely affected by mental illness are being let down. That’s why we are campaigning on two critical fronts: to cut mental health waiting times and to ensure the Department for Work and Pensions is legally required to safeguard vulnerable people. Find out how you can support us in our fight for equality for everyone severely affected by mental illness.
Campaign update
Stop benefit deaths
We’re pleased to share a significant step forward in the fight for a fairer social security system. The Work and Pensions Select Committee, a group of cross-party MPs, have called on the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to be given
If implemented, this would be a crucial step towards real accountability, something Rethink Mental Illness and our fellow campaigners have championed for years.
Too many people living with mental illness have suffered serious harm and even lost their lives due to the DWP’s failures. A legal safeguarding duty would mean the DWP could no longer ignore its responsibility to protect the people it is meant to support.
With major reforms to the social security system expected later this year, the need for further safeguards is urgent. We are calling on the government to take action and implement these recommendations.
There is still a long way to go, but we want to thank you for campaigning alongside us for a fairer social security system. Watch this space for updates about how you can get involved.
Cut waiting times, not benefits New campaign!
Long waits for mental health care are having devastating consequences on people’s lives. Earlier this year, the government pledged to cut NHS waiting times, but mental health was left out of the picture. This directly contradicts it’s own manifesto promise "to give mental health the same attention and focus as physical health."
This is unacceptable. That’s why we have launched a new campaign calling on the government to cut mental health waiting times.
People are eight times more likely to wait over 18 months for mental health treatment than for physical care.
People who are seeking essential mental health support should not be forced to wait so long that their condition worsens.
Four in five people waiting for mental health treatment told us their health deteriorated while waiting. Elizabeth, a mental health campaigner who lives with schizoaffective disorder, waited over a year for care. She knows all too well how damaging these delays can be.
I have finally got support now, but it has been a real battle. I was given a number to ring, but no one ever answered. The one time I did get through, I was passed in a complete circle, right back to the first operator. Lack of care has had a significant impact on my life. I graduated three years ago but have been unable to work due to my illness. I’m seriously distressed, and I fear for others going through this now. We need better care, not worse.
We believe that everyone should be able to access mental health care when they need it. So far, over 900 people have emailed their MP to demand that the government includes mental health in its waiting time targets. We must keep the pressure on.
As the government continues to push forward harmful changes to the social security system, stories like Elizabeth’s show that reducing waiting times will do far more to help people than benefit cuts will.
Take action today!
Help us make sure the government delivers on its promise to treat mental and physical health equally. Find out more at: rethink.org/waitingtimes
From the waiting room to the advisory board
Mark Hughes is a member, group coordinator of a carers’ support group in Worthing, and a recent member of our Carers Advisory Board. He shares why being involved with our charity is so important to him.
What is your experience of mental illness?
Most of my experience is as a carer for my wife, Sue, who in late 1999 went to our GP for help. It had taken years to get to this point. Both of us thought that she was going to be locked up. Those days have passed but public knowledge, including ours, of mental health still is behind the times. We need the public to be better educated on mental health for everyone’s benefit. Eventually, Sue was diagnosed with anxiety, bipolar disorder, and psychosis. In hindsight, I would say that she had bipolar for many years before going to our GP. Physical ailments also presented themselves, such as arthritis, diabetes, obesity and more recently, a stroke.
When did you become a carer?
I tried to support Sue where I could, including appointments with psychiatrists, initially staying in the waiting room, but attending the meetings at Sue’s request so that I knew what was being said and about the action plan. I think I became a carer whilst in the waiting room. The name “carer” still doesn’t fit comfortably with me, but it is the best we’ve got at the moment.
The carers’ support group Mark helps coordinate is based in Worthing, West Sussex. Please email worthingcarersgroup@rethink.org if you are interested in joining them.
When and how did you first become involved with Rethink?
The organisation who ran the support group I was attending decided to move the evening meetings to the mornings. I couldn’t do mornings as that was when I assessed if it was safe to leave Sue on her own. So, another attendee and I decided to continue without the previous organiser. He suggested Rethink being a partner organisation as he had attended Rethink meetings in London. I agreed and we contacted you. That was ten years ago.
You are a group coordinator for a carers support group. Why did you think it is important to have this network?
We felt that an early evening meeting was important for working carers. Understanding mental health and mental health services was crucial to us, but setting up alongside an established group was nerve racking initially. However, running the group built up my skills in speaking up for both the carers and the people they support.
Why did you join our Carers Advisory Board, and why do you think it’s important?
Rethink started as a carers’ organisation. It is still essential that there is a forum for the carer’s voice to be heard. It is equally vital that the cared for voice is heard.
I see attending the CAB meetings as a way for carers to come to a consensus about the issues that Rethink and other CAB members have raised as important, with everyone’s voice being equally heard. Has my voice been heard? Absolutely. Have I made a difference? I believe so. I love how diverse CAB is, and that everyone is as passionate as me, with experiences both similar and different. After all, we are all unique.
What advice do you have for members who may be supporting a loved one with a mental illness?
My first piece of advice is to attend a local support group. If there is more than one, attend them all and see which one suits you. You will hear from others and their experiences. Some will be at different stages than you. Everyone’s story is worth listening to as they may have tried something you haven’t or accessed support which you hadn’t heard of.
I would also suggest that carers need to see supporting their loved one as a partnership. Learn about the condition. If you can, listen to others who have the same condition as the person you care for, and understand it from a new and different perspective.
What things do you do to look after yourself and manage your own mental health?
I have learnt to be patient. Whilst supporting Sue, I’ve also had depression and kidney failure, being on the waiting list for over five years. I learned to play the long game. Always have something that provides you with an escape from your caring role. Whether it is a walk in the countryside, meeting up with friends and family. For me, it was initially geocaching - hunting for hidden pots using GPS coordinates in both the countryside and urban areas.
Carers’ support groups
For details of all our other support groups around the country please visit the ‘Help in your area’ part of our website or email groups@rethink.org
How I manage my
mental health... Creative Voice
Our supporters share some tips and techniques they use to manage their mental health.
For me, managing my wellbeing requires multiple angles—calming practices like meditation, breathwork, eating well, and exercising in a way that supports me rather than drains me.
Practising gratitude; understanding that everything is temporary and expressing adoration for the special people in my life. Being grateful for the little things you have, even if it’s a home cooked meal.
I volunteer at the British Heart Foundation. It gives me meaning and purpose, which is beneficial for my mental health.
Small, consistent actions like walking, meditating, or journaling can help you feel more grounded and in control.
I would encourage anyone to try out one of your local physical activity groups. You can be surprised with the amount of benefits they provide; they often become an important part of maintaining your mental wellbeing.
Sliding door by Kim Feld Prodromal by
Clara Humpston
The prodrome of grandiosity
Have I become one of us?
The littlest things I could do to prove
My devotion and my delusion
Sanity is such an insignificant price to pay
The prodrome of paranoia
Have I lost my mind?
The smallest signs I could find to ensure
My freedom and my safety
Regret is such a beautiful emotion to enjoy
Yet, the prodrome cannot continue forever
The prodrome of passivity
Am I still useful?
The simplest goals I could achieve to secure
My will and my dream
Betraying the other place is just a necessity
The prodrome of eventuality
Am I even here?
The tiniest signals I could gather to defend
My future from my past
Remembering the correct self is just a lie
Now, the progression of disease takes hold
The doors introduced themselves to me, literally, sliding doors, then I had a choice, left or right, into central shopping centre.
I decided to take the left door instead of the right.
It’s my choice, whatever door I chose is the right choice, surely...
well taking the left meant nothing, but did it?
I would normally pause for a moment to see what feels most natural, but I couldn’t pause too long, as I was with someone...and I wasn’t enjoying the stress of waiting...
taking the left, influenced my day because I was still thinking about it for literally 20 minutes.
Why does the world spill out these questions to me, every day?
Is it just me?
Left or right, up or down,yes or no?
I will never have the answers, just leave me be... I mean no harm, surely that’s good enough...
Joanne
Ben James
Wear your
We are excited to announce the launch of our brand new online store, powered by Teemill.
All products are:
• Made from organic materials
• Produced using renewable energy and on demand to reduce waste
• Sent in plastic-free packaging
Plus support
They are made to be returned and remade into something new when they’re worn out! return the product, Teemill will recycle it into something new, and you’ll get £5 credit for your next Remill purchase.
Our first designs are now available on our store. And keep an eye out for more designs coming soon!
