Andy Bell

Interim Chief Executive

Dear friends,

This month we kicked off our Festival of Ideas 2023 with a major event exploring how to break the link between poverty and mental health. We heard about how poverty causes poor mental health and what that means for people struggling to make ends meet every day. And we heard about the clear health benefits of boosting people’s incomes so no one is left unable to afford the essentials of life.

In our second event, on 21 March, we’ll be exploring racial justice and why it too is essential to boost mental health equality.

Also this month, Thea Joshi blogged about our involvement in the Chelsea Flower Show to highlight the power of nature and the urban environment in tackling mental health inequality, and we began our search for new trustees for Centre for Mental Health. Find out if the role could be for you here.

We also noted the National Audit Office report showing how far we have to go to achieve parity for NHS mental health services. We will work with our partners to keep calling for a long-term cross-government mental health strategy, backed up with vital investment in modern mental health services.

The next event in our Festival of Ideas series will focus on what needs to be done to advance racial justice and end racial inequality in mental health.

We’re recruiting trustees!

We're looking for up to four people to join our board and help us pursue our goal of equality in mental health

We are committed to increasing the diversity of our board members, across ethnicity, age, social class, sexual orientation and gender identity. If you’ve never thought of becoming a trustee before, find out if the role could be for you.

'If I could turn back time’: what LGBTQ+ history tells us about collective grief and trauma

by David Woodhead

Mental health, nature and gardens: expanding the narrative

by Thea Joshi