IMPACT REPORT

2 01 9 – 2 0 2 0

prevention

Embracing

the challenge of

3

‘Prevention is better than cure’ is a mantra that we often hear extolled and yet is rarely put into practice. In fact, we know the opposite is often true. The vast majority of resources of government, civil society and even the private sector are directed towards investing in treating illness, finding cures and managing the symptoms of ill health.

Making prevention happen

The COVID-19 pandemic has shone a light on how health is not simply an individual, medical issue. Good health is a collective endeavour which depends on each other and a society that supports people to thrive. With life expectancy stalling for the first time in a generation, we cannot afford, either socially or economically, to continue to ignore the causes of ill-health and expect to meet the health challenges we face in the twenty-first century.

With mental health, this is especially true. Our conviction is that the devastating impact of mental health problems of all kinds can be prevented.

When you consider that depression is already the leading cause of disability in the world and you understand the contribution that poor mental health also makes to poor physical health, prevention in mental health should be a national and global priority.

However, prevention requires empowering individuals and communities to support their mental health. It needs bold action to address issues like poverty, racism, economic inequalities that mean some in our society face much greater risk of mental ill-health than others.

We need to move away from thinking primarily about treating individuals or disorders, and focus on the skills and resources needed to create mentally healthy communities. It will require

sustained and radical action nationally, locally and individually if we are to achieve a transformation for the next generation to reach their full potential.

That is our charitable focus – to achieve a step change in the prevention of mental health problems across the UK and support mentally healthier lives.

We have a cultural awakening and increased political and academic concern for mental health that makes this a better time than any before to realise this vision.

Coming out of a physical health crisis in COVID-19, in the coming year we aim to lead a movement for change to focus on how we build a mentally healthier society. We want to empower individuals to find a way of living that brings mental health dividends not simply deficits.

That will require us to reach out widely to persuade people to come together to work collectively towards good mental health for all.

“I KNOW THAT THE MENTAL HEALTH

FOUNDATION TRANSFORMS

LIVES” Roma, supporter of the Mental Health

Foundation

Contents

3 Making prevention happen

4 Introduction

6 Who we are

7 Our prevention approach

9 Celebrating 70 years

10 Our objectives and achievements

14 Spotlight on refugee empowerment & peer support

17 Fundraising & communications

18 Deborah’s story

22 Campaigns

28 Income & expenditure

31 Reserves policy & designated fund allocation

In November 2019, the Foundation celebrated its 70th year. It was a milestone that bore witness to the dedication and passion that has driven the Foundation in raising awareness and finding better answers to support our mental health. We were delighted to be joined by our fantastic supporters, our staff and board as well as our patron, HRH Princess Alexandra, president, Jacqui Dyer OBE and our chair of the Friends of the Foundation, Fiorella Massey. It was a special privilege to meet family members of our founder Derek Richter to mark this occasion with us.

But as well as celebrating our significant achievements of the past, we also took the opportunity to look forward. After nine months of work and thought, the Foundation launched its new strategy, Making Prevention Happen.

See the full strategy on our website: https://rebrand.ly/MHF-strategy

The strategy outlined our commitments to achieve greater impact, influence and integrity in our work. It laid out a vision of a society which puts our mental health at its heart which, if heeded, would see a sustained reduction in levels and severity of mental ill-health and better mental health for all.

During the year, the executive have gone to work to bring that vision to life through our ground-breaking research across the UK, policy work and applied work in prevention in communities across the UK. Our subsidiary community interest company, Mental Health at Work, continues to help businesses tackle stigma and enable workplaces to address mental health. It was

also a year where we strengthened our work and commitment in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Our work in public engagement continues to grow. Our website is now one of the UK’s leading sites on mental health guidance and advice. When the Foundation first launched Mental Health Awareness Week (MHAW), few would have envisaged how it has grown to a powerful UK-wide week of events that millions of people get involved with.

The 2019 theme and report on body image addressed an issue that is too often ignored but central to good mental health.

As the financial year drew to a close, the Foundation came to terms with the COVID-19 pandemic. We moved quickly to close our three offices and protect staff health.

Derek Richter founded our organisation in 1949 to address the imbalance

in physical and mental health funding.

A seminal year for the Mental Health Foundation

54

IntroductionBY AISHA SHEIKH-ANENE, Chair of Trustees

& MARK ROWLAND, Chief Executive

Due to the generosity of our supporters, we were able to play a full part in the national effort to support the mental health of the nation, developing one of the UK’s leading COVID-19 information hubs and launching a major new longitudinal study on the impact of COVID-19 on the UK population.

The Foundation has deepened its commitment to standing against racism and discrimination which is so damaging to people’s mental health. We are striving to increase our own diversity as well as creating a sense of real belonging through support for our staff’s wellbeing.

Our financial position remains strong and we are investing our surplus in responding to the mental health needs of the UK population and in line with delivering our ambitious new strategy for 2020-2025. We are committed to building a sustainable organisation and a transformation in the Foundation’s impact and reach.

This report sets out our work in more detail and we welcome the opportunity to work with new partners and supporters who share our vision and ambition for good mental health for all.

FOR SOCIETY

Because the levers that enable prevention are bigger than individuals and communities. They

require structural changes in our

world.

FOR THOSE AT RISK

Because the risk and impact of mental health problems is greatest for those who experience

inequality and disadvantage.

6 7

Our prevention approach

Our strategy commits us to the development of prevention solutions – informed by the best evidence. We’re placing this search for solutions in three key frames

FOR EVERYONE

Because we all have mental health, and with the right tools we can

protect and promote this at every stage of life.

Who we are

1. Tell the world - why prevention is fundamental to effectively addressing the mental health crisis

2. Find solutions - innovate universal and targeted evidence-informed community programmes for large numbers of people, generating and sharing evidence of what works in practice to prevent mental health problems, rooted in lived experience

3. Inform and empower - enable mentally healthier lives through public information and engagement

4. Change policy and practice - build alliances and champion prevention in policies and changes to society that are adopted by Government and organisations

The practical things we do

i

Our vision Our vision is good mental health for all.

Our missionTo help people understand, protect and sustain their mental health.

Since 1949, the Mental Health Foundation has been the UK’s leading charity for everyone’s mental health.

With prevention at the heart of what we do, we aim to find and address the sources of mental health problems so that people and communities can thrive.

98

1949195Os 1960s

1949: Derek Richter establishes the Mental Health Research Fund (The Fund) to address the imbalance in physical and mental health funding, and focuses on social circumstances and trauma in mental health

1952: The Fund hosts its first major conference bringing together a range of perspectives on mental health

1960: The Fund starts to use outcomes of its research to influence Government health and social policies

1973: The Fund merges with the Mental Health Trust to create The Mental Health Foundation (The Foundation) and grows to include structures for grant-making, policy influencing and fundraising

1989: The Foundation amplifies the voice of people with lived experience of mental health problems. This includes setting up membership organisations and publishing reports working with service users in equal partnership for the first time

197Os 198Os 199Os

2000s 201Os

1994: The Foundation uses social research to address mental health problems in the community instead of NHS clinical context

1998/99: The Foundation innovates digital approaches to research young people’s mental health and pioneers evidence reviews for public mental health

2001: The Foundation launches Mental Health Awareness Week with its first theme ‘Friendship and Mental Health’. It brings awareness and action at scale and grows to be the biggest annual mental health campaign in the world

2007: The Foundation launches the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival - it is the largest of its kind in the world and it is replicated internationally

2015: The Foundation focuses on prevention as the only reasonable answer to the scale of today’s mental health challenge

18th July 2019Mental Health Foundation turns 70 years old!

Mental Health Foundation

Celebrating years

1110

• We published seminal reports summarising the evidence and knowledge on:

prevention and mental health tackling social inequalities to address

mental health problems.• We published an important state-of-a-

generation report, providing the latest evidence on the mental health of young people and how to prevent problems.

• In partnership with Public Health Wales, we published a co-produced report on the mental health of farmers and their families, summarising the evidence on what programmes of support might work for this population.

• We published a three-year evaluation of See Me, Scotland’s anti-stigma programme, and presented at a conference of 100 delegates including Scotland’s Minister for Mental Health.

• We published our hard-hitting study on support for those bereaved by suicide in Scotland.

• We published academic articles and led a series of successful events marking the end of our four-year international CRISP (Citizenship, Recovery and Inclusive Societies Partnership) exchange with New York, Yale and Illinois Universities.

• We launched ‘Empowering people through physical activity’, a participatory research project with Queen’s University Belfast.

Creating new evidence-based solutions2

• We set up new projects across England and Wales working with population groups who are at higher risk for mental health problems, which included:

young people whose parents live with mental health problems

refugees new university students communities of men who are isolated.

• We continued running our big peer education project in secondary schools, reaching over 20,000 students across England, Wales and Scotland.

• We continued running a big pilot project across southern Wales supporting older people living in supported accommodation to build connections and communities.

• We further developed our community leadership programme with refugees across Scotland.

• We established ‘We Can’ Scotland to provide young people with long-term health conditions a platform to show how services can better meet their mental health needs.

Improving our understanding of how to prevent mental health problems1

Last year:

Plans for the year going forward: Plans for the year going forward:

Last year:

• We will set up a high-profile project, licenced and adapted from the United States, called ‘Becoming A Man’ to provide a psychologically informed approach to support boys and young men who are experiencing challenges and are at risk of being involved in youth violence.

• We will scale our work with training refugees to be community leaders in Wales.

• We will work with the University of Sussex to co-produce resources and support programmes for young people to protect their mental health in university.

• We will set up a young leaders panel and a research community of experts by experience to ensure that lived experience informs all our work at all levels.

• We will develop our ‘Stress Less’ programme to support wellbeing during transitions to secondary schools for young people.

• As joint lead partners we will help to renew our ‘See Me’ national anti-stigma programme into a new five-year phase.

• We will publish a new important state- -of-a-generation report, providing the latest evidence on the mental health of adults during key life transitions and how problems can be prevented.

• We will complete a research trial in Manchester assessing the efficacy of a digital mental health tool for prevention.

• We will conduct comprehensive research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health in the UK.

• We will lead a longitudinal study with all of Scotland’s 18 higher education establishments on student mental health

and best practice in prevention, with Universities Scotland.

• We will publish reports from an exciting new research collaboration with Barnardo’s and Strathclyde University on strategic partnerships for young people’s mental health.

• We will launch the large-scale youth prevalence study for Northern Ireland with Ulster and Queens Universities.

Our objectives and achievements

12 13

• We made advice and support available through our multiple digital channels in the form of articles, podcasts, blogs and campaigns.

• We offered a variety of self-help guides in print and online, including publishing new suicide prevention advice to help people know where to start when they want to support a loved one.

• We continued as leadership partners in Future Pathways, a £13m fund for people who experienced abuse in care in

Scotland, which supported over 1000 people to access support.

• We continued to deliver our long-standing refugee mental health programme, Community Conversation, in Scotland.

• We continued to host Voices of Experience, Scotland’s national mental health service-user advocacy organisation supporting hundreds of members across Scotland.

• We published authoritative recommendations for improving body image and mental health using measures in policy and practice.

• We published a manifesto for the UK government advocating for mental health equality, analysed the positions on mental health of all parties going into the general election, and lobbied for increased attention to mental health through meeting politicians and officers.

• We responded to the Prevention Green Paper consultation and were a strong and

consistent advocate for the value of taking a public mental health approach in all policies.

• We co-chaired the Scottish government’s policy group on body image and young people and produced recommendations for policy change.

• We used our research to effectively influence Scotland’s national suicide prevention leadership group, to develop and fund a new approach to support families bereaved by suicide.

Making practical support available3 Be an advocate for change4

Plans for the year going forward:

Last year: Last year:

Plans for the year going forward:

• We will curate a world-leading page with diverse advice on looking after your mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will include advice and support based on the latest evidence, and articles co-produced by people with lived experience, translated in many languages spoken in the UK.

• We will publish a new “How to look after your mental health” guide, including new evidence-based solutions for protecting and promoting good mental health based on rigorous and transparent research led by our research team.

• We will work with WWF-UK to publish a comprehensive guidebook for mental health aiming to raise awareness and open conversations about mental health issues, while recognising the increasingly important role that nature plays in supporting positive mental wellbeing.

• We will advocate for a role for kindness in public policy for Mental Health Awareness Week and publish comprehensive evidence on what kindness means.

• We will continue our advocacy for improving the understanding around body image and mental health for young people.

• We will publish a briefing on the role of image-editing apps and how their negative impacts on mental health can be mitigated.

• We will advocate for the UK to maintain public mental health as a priority in any new national structures influenced by the pandemic.

• We will work to influence local election manifestos to ensure a voice for mental health.

• We will launch new research and a map to present suicide risks across England and signpost local authorities to interventions.

• We will develop a high-impact manifesto campaign for the Scottish parliamentary elections.

• We will take on the leadership of Scotland’s Mental Health Partnership.

• We will play an influential role in the formation of the Northern Ireland ten-year mental health strategy.

• We will lead the ‘More than just a condition’ campaign for young people with long-term health conditions in Scotland to highlight mental health during the pandemic.

Our objectives and achievements

14 15

Spotlight on...

The Perthyn Project

Based in Wales, this 12-month collaboration with British Red Cross was set up to train a group of refugees and asylum seekers to become peer leaders. Eleven leaders were supported to recruit and maintain their own peer-led groups, aimed at increasing social connections and improving emotional literacy amongst refugees and asylum seekers. (‘Perthyn’ means ‘belonging’ in Welsh.)

The training included empowering the peer leaders to deliver a simple intervention using positive English words that described a range of subjects and emotions. Words such as ‘brave’ were chosen by the group with discussion about the meaning of it in their own language and what the word meant to them personally.

The project had significant impact on the lives of those engaged. Peer leaders highlighted the importance of the weekly meetings and having a supportive space to discuss mental health with no fear of judgement.

As a result of the demonstrated impact, the Perthyn Project has received additional funding to scale up and work in four new cities in Wales, with groups held online.

The Sawti Project

February 2020 saw the completion of the Sawti Project in Scotland, which used a community conversation model to share experiences, build knowledge and skills and offer peer support and engagement with the arts.

The participants decided how they would like the sessions to be delivered and what they would like to learn about mental health. A variety of methods including videos, pictures, print making, poetry and informal discussions were used to cover topics such as depression, anxiety, stress and food and mood.

In 2019/20, 28 refugees and asylum seekers engaged in the final community conversation sessions. Focus was also placed on giving a platform to the artistic outputs created by the participants.

Refugee empowerment & peer support

“I did not feel human. I started to feel human. It was a big transformation”

Sawti Project participant

The Sawti Project culminated in two public exhibitions within Trongate 103 and the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art. Approximately 50,000 people viewed the exhibitions which included displayed

artwork, spoken word performances of poetry written and performed by the refugees, a film showcasing the daily lives of asylum seekers and refugees, and the publication of a book ‘You Are the Light’.

2019/20 has seen the consolidation of our work with refugees and asylum seekers with ongoing projects in Scotland and the development and delivery of a new refugee programme in Wales.

“...for me it’s one day, it’s my day.”

Perthyn Project participant

“I have learned that in this life I will find challenges, but I can cope, we must carry on. It is like our book: We Are The Light. We need to be the light for others” Sawti Project participant

17

2019 - 2020Digital Transformation

Our new strategy requires our digital audience to grow from four to eight million, our social community to grow to one million and total income to stabilise at £13m, underpinned by sustained digital income.

To support this, we have created a strategic roadmap for digital to articulate what role it plays today, and the role it needs to play in delivering the Foundation’s new strategy. By describing our digital ambition and establishing high-level objectives and goals for digital, we will have a better sense of what direction we need to take, how we should do this, and what our priorities will be (including a new website in 2021).

Public fundraising

We continue to engage by post, email and phone as well as face-to-face with hundreds of people across the UK. This helps us engage with a wider audience and turn these conversations into action by recruiting new regular supporters who help contribute to a strong sustainable Foundation.

Community fundraising

We continue to see a growth in income from our community fundraising activities; bringing people together in their communities all having fun together and raising vital money by holding fundraisers, walking, running, playing music and eating, with a shared belief that no one should face mental health problems alone.

We have also launched a new fundraising initiative, MHF Live. We recognise music as a powerful tool - not only can it lift moods, but it can also help to break down stigma, encourage conversation and promote positive mental health for all.

Fundraising &communications

over

40,000Direct programme beneficiaries

OUR YEAR IN NUMBERS

81,332Publications sold

131kGreen ribbons sold

1,996Cash gifts received

Supporters fundraising for us at events

programmes working with vulnerable populations

773

over

15

5,972,859 Website hits

18 19

Deborah’s story

I have struggled with depression for 12 years, but it took me nearly a year to recognise and accept the feelings of anxiety, as well as my inability to cope with the symptoms and seek help.

I had a loving family and friends and we were happy, so how could I be depressed? But that’s what we all need to understand about depression – it does not discriminate, anyone can suffer.

There has been nothing more rewarding for me than becoming a mother and nurturing my four boys on their journey to adulthood and yet it has been a rollercoaster of a ride with many stresses along the way. Raising a growing family was at times overwhelming. I struggled to accept hormonal changes that resulted from my pregnancy and these had a bearing on my mental health.

Looking back now, I would tell my younger self not to be afraid to talk about mental health and seek help when needed. It is fundamental to our lifelong mental wellbeing that we are open and honest about it and look after our mental health as we do for our physical health.

It is impossible to fully understand how debilitating depression is unless you have experienced those feelings of merely going through the motions of living without actually being engaged in it. You never know when a dive might hit you but through learning to recognise early signs, we can all have

a positive effect on our mental health.

The ethos of the Mental Health Foundation – education being crucial in promoting mental wellbeing made my choice to run for them in the London Marathon a “no brainer”.

Running a marathon at 51 had long been what

I considered an unachievable dream.This personal challenge has taught me a lot about myself – running has made me want to get up in the mornings and as all the evidence shows physical exercise is good for your mental health.

You don’t need to run a marathon or even a mile for that matter, a simple walk round the block might be all it takes but we can all learn to help ourselves!

Running a marathon at 51

“I HAD A LOVING FAMILY

AND FRIENDS AND WE WERE

HAPPY, SO HOW COULD I BE

DEPRESSED?”

“Looking back now, I would tell my

younger self not to be afraid to talk about

mental health and seek help when needed.”

20 21

At the heart of our work to expand our fundraising and engagement is an expansion of our corporate partnerships programme.

Through our work with business, we look to achieve three things – Income, Impact, and Insight. We are delighted to work with partners that want to raise money for us through staff activities and reaching out to customers – but our interests are deeper than that. Our partnerships also enable us to get our message to staff, to customers and to the communities the business’ serves.

We spend a third or more of our life at work and workplaces have a key role to play in protecting and improving our mental health.

We are delighted that partnerships often enable companies to start a mental health programme for staff, that can include customising our evidence-based content, and introducing the training and development programmes we offer through Mental Health at Work (mhaw.uk.com), our thriving subsidiary, which specialises in delivering tailored programmes to organisations.

This year we have worked with over twenty corporate partners in a range of different sectors including financial services, fashion, media, recruitment, and hospitality. As we are a small team we can work in a personal way with our partners – tailoring partnerships to meet the needs of small and large businesses, ensuring that together we are supporting the mission and values of the Foundation.

Corporate partnerships

£407,139RAISED THROUGH CORPORATE PARTNERSHIPS 2019/2020

Fundraising &communications

3MonkeysZenoAgilentAutotraderBMS GroupBrakesBrookfield

Gallagher Group (Glasgow)Gatenby SandersonHearst GroupInterstate Hotels Group

Manolo BlahnikMorton MortgagesNielsenPen UnderwritingThe YogscastTravel Weekly

Withers LLPXPS Group PLCZizzi

WE WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING CORPORATE PARTNERS FOR THEIR SUPPORT, DIRECT AND IN-KIND:

Manolo BlahnikIn May 2019 we launched a partnership with luxury fashion brand, Manolo Blahnik International.

During Mental Health Awareness Week, the iconic footwear brand raised funds through sales of green shoes in their London boutiques, and also by donating in return for likes on their Instagram feed (with 3.2m followers).

This was the start of an ongoing partnership which has flourished.

XPS Group PLCXPS Pensions Group selected the Foundation as its charity partner in January 2019.

With 1200 staff in 15 locations across the UK, the business marked Mental Health Awareness Week in offices across the UK by selling green ribbons, wearing green to work, and by hosting Curry & Chaat and Tea & Talk events.

Alongside the fundraising events, we have also been supporting the business in developing its mental health programme, training over 150 managers in the business and providing monthly content for the firm’s intranet.

ZizziIn January 2020 we launched a major national partnership with Italian restaurant chain Zizzi, who hope to raise £1m for the Foundation in a three-year partnership.

At the core of our partnership with Zizzi is the opportunity for every customer to donate 25p to the Foundation as part every card transaction, working with Pennies, the digital charity box.

This feature went live in October 2019 and we have already had over 160,000 donations this way – each one an opportunity to bring the charity to a new person who could benefit.

Spotlight on...

4,957PEOPLE

63 ORGANISATIONS

SUPPORTED THROUGH OUR MENTAL HEALTH AT WORK

PROGRAMME

2322

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK

INCREASE IN MEDIA PRESENCE COMPARED TO 2018

SCOTTISH MENTAL HEALTH ARTS FESTIVAL (SMHAF)

Now in its 13th year, the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival is one of Scotland’s biggest and most diverse cultural events, encompassing film, theatre, literature, visual art, music, dance, storytelling and creative workshops. Its unique approach ensures it connects with audiences that other arts festivals often struggle to reach.

The annual festival that we lead took place in May as part of MHAW, with over 300 events across Scotland exploring the theme of ‘connected’.

This year the festival featured events with asylum seekers, travellers, the LGBT community, and families affected by suicide and other traumatic events, in a wide-ranging programme that focused on the importance of staying connected to each other, and the impact of isolation on our mental health.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK (MHAW)

This MHAW proved to be the biggest yet in the 19 years we have hosted the campaign. This year’s theme was body image – how we think and feel about our bodies. Our thoughts and feelings about our bodies can impact us throughout our lives, affecting the way we feel about ourselves and our mental health and wellbeing.

During the week we hosted a parliamentary reception to raise awareness of our research report and policy asks among influential stakeholders and policy makers, including the Minister for Mental Health, Inequalities and Suicide Prevention. Which helped lead to a parliamentary inquiry into reality TV, Scottish governmental action and a meeting with the Advertising Standards Authority.

Campaigns

We also launched a new body image module as part of our peer education project, which teaches young people in schools all about mental health, and shared 13 personal stories across the week bringing a new level of authenticity and warmth to our content.

There was four times as much media presence as last year, and ten times as much as a few years ago, and major broadcasters supported the week – BBC/ITV, and The Guardian published a mental health supplement.

Read more about our Body Image campaign on page 24.

over 1/3rd of young people felt

ashamed in relation to their body image

1 in 8 adults in the UK have experienced suicidal thoughts or feelings

because of concerns about their body image

4 x

2524

In 2019 the Mental Health Foundation successfully complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about adverts for cosmetic surgery that were shown during the airing of Love Island, on the grounds they painted a false image of perfection and exacerbated young people’s insecurities. The adverts were later banned.

This action was taken as part of our overall concern about the impact some television programmes, including Love Island, has on viewers – particularly those targeted at younger audiences who are most likely to be distressed about their bodies.

According to a survey of 4,505 UK adults, by YouGov, almost one in four people (24 per cent) aged 18 to 24 say reality TV makes them worry about their body image, according to UK survey data.

According to the same survey, almost a quarter of 18-24 year olds (23 per cent) said they had experienced suicidal thoughts and feelings because of concerns in relation to their body image.

More than one in seven (15 per cent) said they had self-harmed or deliberately hurt themselves because of concerns about their body image.

Dr Antonis Kousoulis, the Foundation’s director for England and Wales, issued a press statement saying: “Millions of people enjoy Love Island for a whole range of reasons. Our concern is how the programme projects body images that are not diverse, largely unrealistic and presented as aspirational.”

At the same time, we also published a new report called ‘Body image: How we think and feel about our bodies’. See: https://rebrand.ly/MHF-body-image

The report highlighted research suggesting that body image can be influenced by many factors, such as:

• our relationships with our family and friends.

• how our family and peers feel and speak about bodies and appearance.

• exposure to images of idealised or unrealistic bodies through media or social media.

• pressure to look a certain way or to match an ‘ideal’ body type.

Our recommendations called for action to build and promote positive body image and support good mental health and wellbeing in relation to our bodies, including:• effective regulation of how body image is

portrayed.• the need for commitment from social

media companies to play a key role in promoting body kindness.

• taking a public health approach to body image by training frontline health and education staff.

• individually being more aware of how we can take care of ourselves and others in relation to body image.

Taking actionAs part of our objectives, the Mental Health Foundation advocates good mental health for all, and is dedicated to finding and addressing the sources of mental health problems.Cosmetic Surgery Ad That Aired During ‘Love Island’

Banned For Being ‘Irresponsible And Harmful’

An ad that promoted plastic surgery during Love Island has finally been banned

‘Harmful’ Love Island boob job ad banned, surgery told not to ‘trivialise’ procedures

Charity victory over Love Island plastic surgery ads

‘Irresponsible’ and ‘harmful’ Love Island

breast implant ads banned by ASA?

Breast enlargement ads shown during Love Island banned by ASA

Together, we can tackle the cause and effect of poor body image Last summer, adverts promoting cosmetic surgery, shown during ITV’s popular Love Island programme were banned by the Advertising Standards Authority, following concerns raised by the Mental Health Foundation and supported by the NHS, among others.

While this is an encouraging win, we must continue to speak out against the proven causes of poor body image, while also advocating for and developing policies that protect young people from the pressure to be perfect. In addition, we must keep on creating practical tools that enable us all to build resilience against the causes of poor mental health.

Your ongoing support has a huge role to play in enabling us to respond swiftly to urgent issues such as this and with relevant up-to-date evidence. Thank you.

Mental Health Awareness Week

13-19 May 2019 mentalhealth.org.uk

How we think

& feel about

our bodies

2726

WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY (WMHD)

How do we help people to feel hopeful about preventing suicide?

That’s what we asked ourselves in the run-up to World Mental Health Day on 10th October 2019, the theme of which was suicide prevention.

To show people how they can personally help with suicide prevention we produced a ‘WAIT’ graphic and unveiled it at our ‘human green ribbon’ event in London’s Trafalgar Square, on World Mental Health Day.

Watch out for signs of distress and changes in behaviour

Ask “are you having suicidal thoughts?”

It will pass – assure your loved one that, with help, their suicidal feelings will pass with time

Talk to others – encourage your loved one to seek help from a GP or health professional

S U I C I D E P R E V E N T I O N A DV I C E

mentalhealth.org.ukCall Samaritans

116 123 Registered Charity No.England 801130, Scotland SC039714.Company Registration No. 2350846.

In Wales and Scotland, we marked World Mental Health Day by projecting giant images of the green ribbon onto prominent buildings in Cardiff and Glasgow respectively.

In Glasgow, the projections included messages about suicide awareness and prevention.

28 29

Income Expenditure

The growth in the Foundation’s income was mainly due to the substantial increase in digital fundraising income which grew to £5.8m (£5.2m after adjusting for the under accrual from 2018/19). This growth continues to reflect the importance of mental health and in particular the Foundation’s approach of prevention.

Legacies again provided a significant income stream (£1.8m) with £1.25m of this coming from the extremely generous bequethment of Stephen Schick (£2.5m was received in the previous financial year).

The total expenditure increase of £0.9m was principally due to the increased activity of the subsidiary Mental Health at Work CIC as they increased their output combined with increased investment into our information, education, dissemination and advisory service programmes.

FPLD (LEARNING DISABILITIES)

MHAW CIC

MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAMMES

RAISING FUNDS

INFORMATION, EDUCATION, DISSEMINATION AND ADVISORY

2019 -2020

1010+2++2+4141++2525++22+22+DD2018 -2019

£6.5m2020 4545++2424++2626++22+3+3++DD£5.6m

2019

£10.1m

£12.6m

Other

Legacies

Grants

Digital fundraising

Donations

2014-2018 average 2019 2020

£4.9m

INCOME DEVELOPMENT

2014 - 2020 £m

For more detailed analysis and explanation of the Foundation’s financial position, including all the statutory requirements, please refer to our Annual Accounts report on our website: https://rebrand.ly/MHF-reports

30 31

Office Purchases Fund £5.5m

Currently the Foundation leases offices in all three of our locations which leads to high on-going operations costs. The Foundation has identified that we want to move to offices that provide better working environments and have decided we should look to see if purchasing property would be the right option, in terms of having an asset that will secure its long term future, whilst taking account of potential changes to office working post COVID-19.

COVID-19 Community Investment Fund £2m

The impact of COVID-19 upon the public’s mental health is profound and unequal. The Foundation has decided to invest £2m of its reserves over the next two years to support communities directly and disproportionately affected. The focus of this investment is in programmes (interventions) whilst ensuring close links between the other major areas of the Foundation’s work (policy, research, communications and fundraising).

Stephen Schick – Resourcing the Strategy Fund £2.5m

With the implementation of the new strategy from 2020-2025, it has been identified that we need to invest in the Foundation to achieve the strategic aims. Therefore, we have set aside £2.5m, which was from the Stephen Schick Legacy to finance the strengthening regional presence of the Foundation across the UK, to invest in fundraising, to develop programmes at scale, and to ensure the future financial and cultural sustainability of the Foundation.

Charities hold reserves for a variety of reasons - to manage the charity’s resources where income is subject to uncertainty in terms of timing, to ensure that the charity has sufficient financial resources to meet its upcoming liabilities, and to provide funds which enable the charity to take advantage of new investment opportunities when they arise.

As noted above, the level of unrestricted reserves at 31 March 2020 was £2.1m. This represents about 4.3 months of unrestricted expenditure. The Trustees estimate that the charity’s reserves should be no less than 3 months expenditure and therefore this is a more than adequate level of reserves.

However, the Trustees have decided that the organisation should hold a specific amount in readily available cash reserves due to the potentially uneven receipt of funds from legacies and any other short term cash necessity.

As a result, in addition to a target of minimum reserves the Trustees have decided to set a target level of cash reserves equal to at least 3 months’ total

expenditure based on liquid funds available for immediate use, this equates to £1.5m.

Whilst the Trustees recognise that the Foundation’s general reserves and cash reserves, £12m as of 31st March 2020, are currently significantly above their reserves policy, they anticipate that based on the planned designed fund usage, detailed below, these will be used during the strategy period thus bring fund levels back closer to the Trustee’s stipulated level.

In addition during the strategy period the Foundation’s annual expenditure will grow such that the required respective 3 month and 3 month bases will be higher.

The Foundation is in the fortunate position that our reserve levels have been significantly increased with recent surplus’ and hence we are in the position that we have more than the minimum that is stipulated in our reserves policy.

Currently the funds that are not restricted equate to £12.1m at year-end. Whilst the trustees recognise that these are significantly above the reserves policy requirements, they anticipate that based on the planned designated fund usage, detailed below, these will be used during the strategy period, thus bringing fund levels back closer to the trustees’ stipulated level. In addition, given the forecasted impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK’s exit from the EU, revenue streams could be under significant pressure going forward, hence a higher than usual reserve level will ensure we have stability for the coming years.

The designated funds have been allocated to the three areas below to secure the long-term future of the Foundation as well as being able to further the strategic objectives of the Foundation.

Reserves policy & designated fund

allocation

Registered Charity No. England 801130 Scotland SC039714. Company Registration No. 2350846.

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London office

Mental Health FoundationColechurch House

1 London Bridge WalkLondonSE1 2SX

Glasgow office

Mental Health FoundationMerchants House

30 George SquareGlasgowG2 1EG

Cardiff office

Mental Health FoundationWorkbench

15-16 Neptune CourtCardiff

CF24 5PJ