Our story so far

Pre 1982

MHM originated from the National Schizophrenia Fellowship. The National Schizophrenia Fellowship had a number of regional offices, including ours which was based in Collingwood Street, Newcastle upon Tyne.

A regional development director, one development worker and an administrator were employed in the management of this regional office. The main focus of our work involved supporting carers and service users through 20 self-help groups. These self-help groups met monthly and covered the region from Berwick-upon-Tweed to Stockton-on-Tees. We also had a membership of over 600 people living in the North East. The Regional Development Director took guidance and direction from a voluntary management committee made of primarily carers with a number of professionals working in the mental health field. It also had an advisory committee made up of members, people attending our self-help groups and people using mental health services.

1984

The National Schizophrenia Fellowship decided to close a number of its regional offices, including their Newcastle office. The management committee of the Newcastle regional office worked with the National Schizophrenia Fellowship, the Charity Commission and Companies House to establish the Northern Schizophrenia Fellowship (NSF) separately, and on 27th January 1984, we became incorporated both as a company limited by guarantee and a registered charity.

The founding members of NSF were George Lowe (Chairman), Dr. Ian Pagan Frazer, George Herbert, Margaret Bell and Arthur Banister. The first Director of NSF was Alex Gosling.

The first services NSF ran were a registered care home in Whitley Bay (Percy Road), a day service in Wallsend (Rosehill Day Centre), a drop in “safe space” one evening per week in central Newcastle (The New Way Out Club) and supported a local management group in Hetton le Hole with their supported housing.   The NSF offices also offered a safe space drop-in facility 5 days per week. We continued to run and support over 20 self-help groups with a combined membership of over 600 service users and carers. NSF also supported the set-up, development and management of Key Enterprises (North Tyneside), Waddington Street Day Services (Durham) and Blyth Star Enterprises (Northumberland).

1987

NSF secured funding from Allied Dunbar Charitable Trust: Section 64 monies and local fundraising initiatives, which was used to recruit a second development post. Additional funding was also received from local grant making charitable trusts and pharmaceutical companies which helped our services grow.

1988

Sir Roy Griffiths published the ‘Care in the Community – Agenda for action’ report.

1989

The UK government published their response to Sir Roy Griffiths’ report in their White Paper ‘Caring for People – Community Care in the next decade and beyond’. This identified 6 key objectives and these objectives because enshrined in new legislation, enacted in the National Health Service and Community Care Act 1990. 

In August, Ian Grant was recruited as Director of NSF.

A gun incident in Monkseaton, North Tyneside involving someone with a mental illness attracted major media coverage which further spotlighted the national lack of health and social care, priority, focus and services for those individuals with severe and enduring mental illness, and NSF continued to campaign for improved services.

In December 1989, our second Registered Care Home opened in the West End of Newcastle. This service was a collaboration between the Newcastle Health Authority, West End Newcastle Social Services and ourselves.

From 1990 to 1993 our organisation had exponential growth in its housing services across the North East of England, and our staff team grew accordingly to include Directors of Housing, Development and Community Support Services, as well the appointment of more finance and administration staff.

1991

NSF published a report called ‘Slipping through the Net’, which highlighted major gaps in the provision of services for those suffering from mental health illnesses. The report had profound effects on the support and delivery of services for people with mental health illnesses.

1992

In December 1992, following the killing of Jonathon Zito by a schizophrenia patient named Christopher Clunis, SANE (Schizophrenia A National Emergency), MIND and the National Schizophrenia Fellowship successfully campaigned for government funding to be released and prioritised for health and social care services for people with mental health needs.  

1993

We were successful in piloting our first employment service, The Gateway Project, delivered from our offices in Gateshead and secured through the European Social Fund. This service pioneered the recognition of the link between employment issues and peoples’ mental wellbeing which has since become a national priority. 
In 1993 we also relocated to West Sunniside, Sunderland.

1994

In June through an evidenced-based wider need for services and following consultation with its members, the Management Executive made the decision to change the name of the organisation to Mental Health Matters (MHM). At the same time the organisation amended its governing document (Articles and Memorandum of Association) to reflect those of a national organisation. The name 'Mental Health Matters' reflected the decision to widen our support remit to all types of mental health conditions across the country, beyond the North-East. 

In this year, our Pathways Advice and Information service opened in Gateshead offering drop in advice and support on subject such as medication, benefits, local services as well as mental health needs to people living in Gateshead. This service is still going strong today!

1995

The Management Executive reviewed the effectiveness of the self-help group model currently operating, and it was decided that self-help groups would no longer continue, instead focusing our efforts on other types of mental health support.

MHM opened our first Helpline service, based in Middlesbrough. The helpline was originally commissioned to supplement one of our supported housing units, offering tenants emotional support 24/7. It was quickly identified that this innovative service could benefit many more people with mental health needs, and it began to be adopted more widely. We also opened our first dispersed housing service in Sunderland.

In the latter part of 1995 MHM opened up its Business Centre in Westgate Road, Newcastle upon Tyne.

We were successful in attracting (in total) £10 million of European Social Fund (ESF) monies into the North East of England creating a range of employment initiatives (ACCEPT & Sunniside projects) that enabled the organisation to share, learn and embed good practice from other European countries.

1998

Our Northern Causeway service opened. This service offered outreach support to people in Belford, Wooler and Berwick providing social support within the local communities. MHM also opened the Reflections Resource Centre in Darlington offering meaningful occupation, employment and learning opportunities to residents living in Darlington.

1999

Our first service outside the North-East, Barrow Woods Forest Farm, opened in Bristol.

2000

Through support monies provided from Pfizer Pharmaceutical we created a development post in Wakefield which raised MHM's profile and created new opportunities to develop services, including the 'Back in Touch' employment support service. We moved our Central Office to Gateshead, and our organisation continued to expand.

Our Gateshead Out of Hours opened in this year, which is still running today, offering drop in services in Heworth, Blaydon and Gateshead city centre. We also opened new services further afield, in London (the Hillingdon Employment Service) and a support service in Birmingham which focused on helping people to gain skills in gardening, catering and administration to help them find employment.  

2003

As MHM grew, our central office required a yet larger base and we moved to our current location in Sunderland. We opened The Sanctuary Project in Gateshead, a service providing therapy and support to refugees living in the North East. (In the year 2004, MHM were awarded a 4 star status by the Home Office for this work).

2006

In 2006 the Department of Health piloted a new scheme to increase the public’s access to high-quality psychological therapies on the NHS, known as IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies). MHM played a key role in the service’s pilot in Newham, and following the pilot’s success the scheme was rolled out nationally.   

2008

In partnership with South Staffordshire & Shropshire NHS Foundation Trust (SSSFT), we opened our first non-pilot IAPT service in Liverpool.

2009

Furthering our partnership with SSSFT, we opened a second IAPT service in Sefton. We also independently launched IAPT services in Derbyshire and Teesside.

2010

We opened our Talking Therapies service in Warrington, in partnership with Cheshire & Wirral NHS Partnership Trust.

2011

Helen Mackay was appointed as CEO, having worked for MHM since 1987!

2012

MHM opened the first 'Payment by Results' (PBR) service in Darlington, and the first 'Any Qualified Provider' (AQP) service in Teesside.

2015

We opened our Talking Therapies service in Northumberland, in partnership with Sunderland Counselling Services and Efficacy. This was also a successful year for our Social Care services in the North-East, with a number of contracts being extended and won across Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead. This covered a wide variety of services from Advocacy, Housing, Advice and Guidance and Mental Health User Voice. In 2015 Julie Haley was appointed as the new Head of Social Care.

2016

In this year we were very proud to secure National Helpline accreditation, while also extending our Helpline offering to Coventry and Kent.  After a successful partnership bid with Midlands NHS Trust, Making Space and The Wise Group, we were part of the launch of a community based service in Staffordshire.

MHM also secured a Positive Practice in Mental Health award in recognition for our evidence-based successful partnership working. 

2017

2017 was an exciting year for MHM, with our social care services expanding even more.  We retained contracts in Stockton and Hartlepool and we were successful in moving into new areas across the Midlands and Leicestershire delivering community-based support. This year we also secured our York Haven service, commissioned by and in partnership with Tees Esk Wear Valley NHS Foundation Trust, which continues to go from strength to strength supporting those most at need in York.

Funding from the Department of Work and Pensions was released to support IAPT services nationally to deliver employment support. MHM were successful in securing some of this funding and expanding into Hertfordshire to work alongside the IAPT team there to deliver an integrated service.

Our Helpline also expanded, delivering our first specialist service for veterans in partnership with Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Partnership Trust, Walking with the Wounded, Lincolnshire NHS Partnership Foundation Trust and North Essex NHS.  In addition, our helpline began supporting crisis and recovery teams in Gloucestershire and across the midlands.