City Volunteering

Mind in Camden

Our Mission: Recognise and value people’s own experiences and definitions of their mental health and support needs, developing and exploring ways of working that combat the stigma, isolation, low self esteem, social exclusion and the lack of hope that labels and diagnosis can bring. Enable people to find ways of achieving their own life goals on the basis that ‘recovery’ is self defined. Work alongside people with current or past lived experience of mental health issues as partners, not as passive recipients of services. Promote wellbeing by providing and enabling services that support individual responsibility, self help, peer support, co-production, and inclusion in the wider community. Ensure that the self help, peer support and co-production models we adopt in our services, and promote to others through our development projects, training and consultancy, fully reflect our core values.

ABOUT US:

Mind in Camden is an independent registered charity (No. 292180), established in 1985, and a company limited by guarantee (Reg. No. 1911178).

We support over 1000 people with serious mental health needs each year, both in Camden and accross the UK. We are affliliated with National Mind.

We provide a selection of different services to people experiencing mental health difficulty and social isolation. We take a person-centred, community based approach to Mental Health. We see mental health as a continuum that we are all at different points on at different times in our lives – there is no ‘us’ (= well) and ‘them’ (= ill).

Some of our programmes are based at our centre in Camden Town and others are delivered out in the Community, in partnership with other local organisations.

Volunteers are a vital part of our community and there are are a selection of different volunteering roles available accross our services. We provide to two day training to prospective volunteers as well ongoing supervision and support.

Volunteering opportunities are flexible and include: 1:1 support with our community members, co-facilitating peer support groups for service-users, supporting in our groups social spaces, assisting clients with with housing and benefits related issues, faciliating/ co-facilitating creative activities for our community members.

See a brief summary of the services we offer, in which volunteers play an integral role:

Phoenix - an innovative Wellbeing & Mental Health Recovery Service providing a range of co-produced support spaces, dedicated personal support, peer support groups and workshops. This operates as a day centre on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. Volunteers will be asked to support members 1:1, run activities and assist with the serving our free community meals. Clients that attend Phoenix tend to be higher need, often with learning difficulties and 'dual diagnosis'
Healthy Minds Community Programme: supports local people to reconnect with their interests and goals by engaging in activities and courses and building positive connections with the local community. This is a flexible open access programme that is spread out accross the community. Volunteers support with this by providing emotional and practical supporty to clients attending activities.
We are the lead organisation in the London Hearing Voices Network, which supports 42 hearing voices peer support groups across the capital
Social Prescribing Services: GP referral services to help Camden residents make contact with organisations offering workshops, activities, groups and practical support
Community Development: a co-produced service, reflective of specific cultural needs, that supports community groups and organisations to promote wellbeing and support individuals and families to look after their mental health

WHY OUR WORK MATTERS:

We understand that people experiencing mental health difficulty can benefit from a safe, non-judgemental environment where they can recieve pratical support, re-engage with their interests and form social connection.

Many of the community members that we support have been failed by statutory services or told that their needs are too 'complex' to be elligible for support.

Our services are designed in collaboration with the people we support. This has allowed us to build trauma-informed services and spaces that feel safe for people experiencing distress. Both our group and 1-1 services are effective in combating social isolation and helping our community members improve their outlook on life.

OUR VALUES:

Person-Centred Support

Community-Building

WHAT WE LOOK FOR IN OUR PEOPLE:

We look for comitted, empathetic volunteers who have an established interest in supporting those experiencing mental health distress.

As the people we support often lead chaotic lives and have experienced significant trauma, we need our volunteers to be dependable and reliable - to 'show up' for our clients.

We also look for those that value community as our work focuses on combating stigma and creating spaces for people who have experiences social alientation

We welcome those with lived-experience of mental health distress.

HOW WE ARE DIFFERENT:

We take a non-stigmatising approach to experiences like 'Hearing Voices' rather than labelling them under banners such as 'schizophrenia' or 'psychosis'. Whilst we recognise the value in diagnosis for many people, it can also be limiting and lead to isolation, shame and further trauma. We provide a sanctuary for people allowing our clients to reach their own conclusions about their mental health and whats best for them.