West Sussex Mind launches new strategy in a bid to tackle worsening mental health among all age groups

Plans that aim to meet the mental health challenges in the community were unveiled at the charity's headquarters in Worthing on Thursday, April 24, to an audience including High Sheriff of West Sussex, Dr Tim Fooks.

The strategy has been developed through a series of consultations with partners as well as roadshows with staff, volunteers and service users.

Kerrin Page, chief executive, said: "This is a really, really exciting moment for us, where we share our plans and ambitions for the next five years to make sure the communities we support get the mental health help that they need and deserve.

"We feel we have really genuinely co-produced the strategy to make sure it is based on evidence informed by the power of lived experience and the expertise of our partners.

"It feels like the journey has been as important as the destination. The journey we have gone on over the past 12 months has been really powerful and impactful for us as an organisation."

The strategy will be reviewed each year, due to the changing world and the backdrop of worsening mental health among all age groups in West Sussex.

Annie Foot, head of community mental health and development, said men would be a particular focus, as currently only a third of service users are male, as well as racialised groups.

She spoke about the anti-stigma work that is already being carried out and some of the goals to break down barriers that prevent people from accessing the help they need.

Annie said: "Our men's group and peer volunteer programme are particular successes in helping reduce stigma, with the focus on men sharing their lived experience and driving peer support. That is the most powerful thing we can do."

Peer volunteer Simon Wells spoke about his own experience of stigma and how it had impacted his life. He has been affected by OCD since the age of ten but lived with it, along with associated anxiety and depression, for 30 years before he was referred to the emotional wellbeing service at West Sussex Mind.

Simon said: "Whilst significant progress has been made in breaking down barriers, mental health still carries certain perceptions and to many, these only serve to reinforce the stigma that prevents access to the support those individuals need.

"My experience of public stigma showed it came from the lack of willingness to understand. If I had sought help, that would have been admitting that I was a failure, that's how I felt."

Affected by the lack of understanding from people around him, he said it was finding a friend who really listened that showed him the difference empathy can make.

Simon added: "There is much work to be done but the affect that one individual can have in the course of one conversation can never be underestimated. The barriers are those created by misperception and misunderstanding in society."

West Sussex Mind has set out a new mission statement and developed five strategic aims, which will steer the charity's work over the next five years.

It wants to transform mental health services, address health inequalities, tackle stigma, build an inclusive culture and supportive workplace, and ensure the charity is innovative, efficient and financially secure.

Visit westsussexmind.org to read more about the strategy, Building resilient communities together.