Mental Health Sustainability Programme

Over the course of 3 years, the Mental Health Sustainability Programme achieved heights that were only hoped for, back when the Programme was founded. We are honoured to detail some of those successes here, along with a brief history of its development (more detail can be seen in our evaluation report).

• In May 2020 the Programme was founded by a coalition of the UK's leading mental health charities and social enterprises to help VCSE mental health service providers sustain their services during and after the pandemic with leading businesses committing their support in time and money.
• By September 2020 the Programme had been resourced with staff who spent the next Autumn/Winter period recruiting our first cohorts of providers, launching an innovative Learning Portal for those members and administering our first grant round.
• Across Spring/Summer 2021, the Programme became more dynamic and responsive to provider’s needs; debuting peer support sessions and webinars led by member topics as well as a second round of grants.
• In Winter 2021, a bespoke Helplines Fund with Bupa Foundation connected funds to 12 providers, enabling the Programme to exceed its target of reaching 100 providers through its work at this 18 month mark.
• By Spring 2022 we had continued our regular delivery to these 100+ providers as well as developing Sustainability Toolkit and Sounding Board sessions to enrich the learning that providers could take from the Programme and its partners.
• Summer 2022 saw the development and delivery of 17 creative projects in South West Yorkshire, through community partner Creative Minds, come to a successful conclusion – with many projects continuing to support their community, creating a lasting legacy in this area.
• As a close to the Programme's work, in Spring 2023 we were able to share our evaluation report from partners, Charity Fundraising Ltd.

All partners, providers and friends of the Programme over the course of the last 3 years are heartily thanked by the Association for their many and varied contributions.

The Programme opened the Association's work up to VCSE mental health service providers who support communities that were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic due to existing health inequalities, such as minoritised communities, LGBT+, children and young people, older people, new mothers, and those in contact with the criminal justice system. We are proud to still have these organisations in our membership today and are committed to continuing to provide support to them as we move through 2023 and beyond.

The Privacy Notice for the Programme can be seen at the link; and the Association's Ethical Fundraising Policy can be seen here too.

MHSP - Sustainability Toolkit

The headline offer from the Mental Health Sustainability Programme is the Sustainability Toolkit – an offering of six sessions from Programme partners and external facilitators to increase the sustainability of small-medium sized enterprises and the knowledge and responsiveness of their leaders.

Mental Health Sustainability Fund

The Mental Health Sustainability Fund’s second/2021 round is now closed. We awarded to 29 providers whom you can read about here. We presently have no grants open and cannot detail when we may next go out for a grant round.

MHSF - Helplines Fund with Bupa Foundation

The Mental Health Sustainability Fund’s Helplines Fund with Bupa Foundation is now closed. We awarded to 12 providers whom you can read about here. We presently have no grants open and cannot detail when we may next go out for a grant round.