Visions for Mental Health

In a very detailed and well-illustrated presentation MindWise Director of Operations, Elaine Black and Jackie McCaughey, Area Manager for Housing Support Services, highlighted how MindWise are transforming lives and developing new visions for mental health. They have just had their 13th Anniversary as MindWise, having de-merged as the NI region of Rethink (formerly the National Schizophrenia Fellowship) and have 100 staff and 80 volunteers supporting more than 9,000 people each year in their journey from recovery to discovery with more than 30 services across NI with 4 Portfolios.

They provide high quality stable homes and a range of services to help individuals to live independently and in supported living settings and recently have been providing support for the homeless and they also offer mental health training to employers and to young people in schools and colleges. Covid has had an impact not only on their services but also on peoples’ mental health and they have had to operate differently mostly by telephone. 

Thanking for the opportunity to address members they concluded that they are going to be looking at trauma and hope to continue to be making a difference over the next 10 years; they would also welcome the Club’s support both as a Club but also with members getting involved with projects. Following an extensive Q&A session President Ken thanked them for their excellent presentation highlighting their work.