Mental health

Mental health problems affect one in four people at some point in their lives

As well as dealing with the impact of living with these problems, many people also have to cope with stigma, discrimination and social exclusion, and can find it hard to get their voices heard in the decisions that affect their lives.

Aim of the programme

This programme aims to ensure people with mental health problems get access to the services they need, their rights are respected, and their voices heard. It also aims to reduce the stigma and discrimination surrounding mental health.

We believe that change will be most effective if it’s led by those with personal experience. In most cases we will look for organisations to be user-led, i.e. a majority of people with direct experience of mental health problems make up the trustee board. Where this is not the case, we will expect organisations to show how they are actively and meaningfully involving people with mental health problems in running the project (e.g. through a steering group). Where appropriate, we may also want them show a commitment to becoming more user-led over time.

Outcomes

Your work will need to deliver one or more of the following outcomes:

• Greater involvement of people with mental health problems in decisions that affect their lives
• A reduction in stigma and discrimination, and a positive change in people’s attitudes towards mental health
• More inclusive and accessible mental health services and organisations, in particular, for people from black and minority ethnic communities

Other important information

For the final round of funding in the current grants strategy, we are prioritising applications that help bring about more inclusive and accessible mental health services and organisations. We will also prioritise projects that are user-led and targeted at groups who are additionally vulnerable or subject to inequality such as:

• People from black and minority ethnic communities
• Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people
• Disabled people
• Homeless people
• Older people

We want to fund work that brings people together and supports them to help bring about the change that ensures their needs are better met.

• We will NOT fund therapeutic interventions (such as counselling, art therapy or eco-therapy). Helplines or employment support projects under this programme
• We will NOT fund anti-stigma projects in England or Wales as we have already awarded significant funding to the Time to Change campaigns in these countries – you can find more information on England’s grant programme at http://www.time-to-change.org.uk/grants and Wales’ Social Leadership programme at http://timetochangewales.org.uk/take-action/run-project
• We will NOT fund services for carers or people with learning disabilities or dementia under this programme

You can apply for all or some of your project costs, but we encourage you to get some of your funding from other sources if you can. We will not generally fund the full cost of applications made by charities with an annual income over £10 million. Our grants usually vary between £25,000 and £40,000 per year for a maximum of three years, and rarely exceed this upper limit.

If your work is national or provides a model that could be replicated, we may be able to fund at a higher level. Please call us to discuss this before you submit an application.

You should also read our UK Grants Strategy

The Mental Health programme is open for applications from 13th August until midday on 19th October 2012.