Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind

One Pound Campaign – What’s it all about?

Core Case for Support – the case for supporting us

What difference do we make? (Our Impact)

How many people do we need to pledge support, by when and why?

What will we use this money for?

How to sign up to support our appeal

How do we intend to keep the public involved in our developments?

What else can you do to support our local Mind charity? 

One Pound Campaign – What’s it all about?

Times are full of challenges and uncertainty – and with that in mind, we have taken a head on approach to diversifying our incomes as much as possible so that we can look into the future and develop services that are currently experiencing high volumes in demand, and great feedback in terms of the quality of support and the impact it makes on individual circumstances – making life much better.

In light of this, Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind hereby launches its ‘One Pound Campaign’, appealing to the public to support the future security of its service, as well as developing projects that the public need and want.  We want people to give just £1 a month, to help us to do really important life-impacting work.  Of course, the option is there to give more.

Core Case for Support – the case for supporting us 

We want to make sure that we can be there for everyone – so by getting a regular donation to us, you can help us to do what we’re really good at – and that’s all about delivering a service that makes a huge difference to people’s lives in terms of their mental health, and overall health and well-being.

Mental health is an important aspect of well-being – if your mental health is not good then this can impact on your overall health in lots of negative ways – vice versa, if your physical health is ailing, then your mental health can also deteriorate.  People who suffer mental health issues, can recover quite quickly given that they have the right environment and interventions around to support them through a difficult time.  Key things that can cause poor mental health include falling into debt, losing a home, losing a job or not able to gain a job, having had a difficult childhood or difficulty in adult relationships or even bereavement. ‘When my son died I found it very hard to come to terms with his loss.  I started drinking to drown out my sorrows and was arrested for disturbing the neighbours.  I knew then that I had to change my life and move onto newer things.’ It is in situations like these that Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind’s support is invaluable.

Each year we help thousands of people, aged 16 years and over to access counselling sessions, advocacy support, a variety of experiences in therapeutic courses to help gain better mental health.  We help people for whom no other suitable support is available.  Our work encourages early intervention and preventative work which stops people getting them into a crisis.

The people we support are referred to us from a variety of sources including GP’s, housing and community mental health teams.  People can also refer themselves to our services by coming in to our Well-being centre, checking out our website or phoning our Ashton office.  We offer a very open-access ethos to all our services, except the advocacy support which is a statutory service specifically for people who are detained under the Mental Health Act.  

What difference do we make? (Our Impact)

Within the year leading up to October 2011, we:

• Worked with over 8,500 people.  That’s equivalent to the nearly the whole of Mossley.
• We delivered 5060 sessions with people on a 1-2-1 and counselling and advocacy.
• We provided 150 course sessions for 300 people.
• We helped 120 people access drop-ins for housing, debt and education advice. 
• 75% of our income was used for front line delivery.
• 7000 people ate at our award winning social enterprise café, Topaz.
• We employed 90 volunteers, of which 18 were new volunteers.
• Our volunteers worked to the equivalent of 8543 hours, 356 days of work.  That’s a huge part of our front line service delivery time.

How many people do we need to pledge support, by when and why?

We want to raise an initial target of £120,000 by the end of 2012.

What could you give to help someone get a better life?

Give just £1 a month to help someone experiencing mental distress get access to vital information and support that will encourage good life-changing decisions and find solutions for problems.  This costs the same as a big bar of chocolate.

Give £3 a month towards providing a much-needed counselling session, helping people with devastating experiences to recover and get their lives back on track. This costs the same as a bag of fish and chips.

Give £5 a month towards the delivery of an Anger Management Course for 12 people, who will re-build their own lives, as well as their families’, and make a better society.  This costs the same as a modest bottle of wine, or two cans of beer.

Give £9 a month towards supporting people in a dire crisis, helping them access vital information on Human Rights and rights under the Mental Health Act, and supporting them to look after themselves during a very difficult time.  This costs the same as a takeaway delivery.

What could you give to help someone get a better life?

What will we use this money for?

We will use this money for more services directly accessible to the public.  These will include faster counselling support, quick first sessions to help resolve big problems through our FAST service, giving out advice and information, or signposting to the right service that can help people in distress.  As we gain the support we need, we will look at what else we need to spend the money on and prioritise according to the need of the public.

How to sign up to support our appeal

Either:

(a)  Telephone the office to request a direct debit form or set up a direct debit over the phone on 0161 330 9223

(b)  Sign up for a direct debit on our website http://togmind.org/get-involved/donations

(c)  You can also make a one-off payment, either online or via the phone.

How do we intend to keep the public involved in our developments?

We will regularly update the movement of the One Pound Campaign through the local newspaper media, as well as our social networking account www.twitter.com/togmind and our website www.togmind.org – Look for the One Pound Updates. 

What else can you do to support the local Mind charity?

We are keen to hear from people who may be interested in giving a larger donation or considering a charity in their will.  We’re also happy to advise on public fundraising events, or corporate events that want to do their bit in Corporate Social Responsibility and raise money for Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind.  Further information can be acquired from the Business Development Team on 0161 330 9223 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  We’re releasing our Fundraising Pack in 2012, recruiting Business Development support through marketing and fundraising volunteering roles and working with local businesses to sell our materials.  All new for 2012, watch this space!

We’re also collating a story board that shows how people have transformed their lives by getting support from us.  If anyone wants to share their story, the Business Development Team would love to hear from them.

In addition, the campaign is also searching for support from local celebrities/community leaders, and any ideas are welcome.