The Guardian view on mental health: the charities that we are supporting this Christmas
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Version 0 of 1. Ignorance and superstition, even in the 21st century, can be tough opponents. Attitudes to mental health are often influenced by both. That is why, for this year’s Christmas appeal, the Guardian and the Observer chose nine mental health charities, some national and some very local, whose purpose is to change attitudes by practical support and research. Mental health is still the Cinderella of the NHS, too often the first place to feel cuts and the last to benefit from investment. The long shadow of Victorian-era horror at any sign of mental illness still lingers, sustaining stigma and inhibiting funding for services. Yet in any given year, one in four of us will suffer some kind of mental health problem. Sometimes it will be a limited period of depression, perhaps associated with a particular event – birth, or bereavement. Sometimes it might be the full-blown onset of a more critical illness such as schizophrenia. Whatever the degree of seriousness, they all have some features in common. Sufferers require diagnosis, and then they need backup, a guide around the system, an ear for moments of despair, a hand on the road to recovery. Those are the criteria that have led to the choice of charities that we are backing this year. They include Samaritans, the volunteer-run organisation that for more than 60 years has been at the end of a phone for anyone, from troubled to suicidal. Now it is moving out from the office and sending workers on to the street to reach people who may not even know the organisation exists. Also among the nine is Mind, another national charity, which also supports small projects such as Changing Minds in Newport. By recruiting young survivors of mental illness to support other young victims, it is building a reputation for a responsive and effective service, helping to fill the yawning gap left by the underfunded child and adolescent mental health services. We also want to raise money for organisations such as Star Wards, which tries to improve the experience in hospital for inpatients. We are supporting Rethink Mental Illness, another national charity that works to remove stigma and deliver services to help and support victims of some of the most severe forms of mental illness; and Kidstime, an organisation for young people who have to care for a parent with mental illness. We are also backing the innovative Gardening Leave, which has shown how horticulture can offer a way out of post-traumatic stress and other mental ill health associated with war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mac-UK is a new organisation that aims to take what works in clinics out on to the streets to help excluded young people with mental illness. It was founded by an NHS clinical psychologist, Dr Charlie Howard, after she realised that the people who really needed to see her didn’t come to her clinics. Her project works mainly with young gang members in London, giving mentoring opportunities to older kids. The Centre for Mental Health works on policy. And we are backing CoolTan arts, which uses creative experience to promote mental wellbeing. We want to bring issues of mental health into the open. After all, directly or indirectly, it will touch all our lives. As people become more open about their own experience of mental illness, it is slowly becoming easier to acknowledge and harder for politicians to ignore. It is more than time that mental health came in from the cold. Our charities are all about innovation and outreach. They help to fill in the gaps, and offer new ways of making a difference. So please support them. |