Buckinghamshire Mind Impact Report 2024–2025

Buckinghamshire Mind is a 110-year-old local Mind charity delivering mental health services across Buckinghamshire and East Berkshire. In 2024/25 it supported 6,869 people, with 92% feeling less isolated, 87% better able to manage their mental health, and 84% experiencing improved wellbeing. Key services include peer support groups, Safe Haven (264 attendances as an A&E alternative), Gateway Navigators, Befriending (136 new partnerships), Peer Support in Schools (572 young peer mentors), counselling, hospital safety planning, and a Champion the Change campaigning programme reaching 5,650 people. Volunteers contributed 6,287 hours. The year was marked by the charity's 110th anniversary and a strengthened Experts by Experience programme that shaped CEO recruitment.

Report snapshot
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📋About

Community Connectors (407 people, Mental Health Integrated Community Service East Berkshire); Safe Haven crisis alternative (264 attendances, avoiding A&E); Gateway Community Navigators (1,277 signpostings); Peer Support Bucks groups (434 people); Friends in Need East Berkshire (FiN 18+, Peers2Pals 17–25); Befriending (136 new partnerships, volunteer befrienders with lived experience); Peer Support in Schools (572 student peer mentors in Year 5/6 and Sixth Form); Mental Health Education in Schools (960 children, parents and staff); Counselling for Adults and Young People (1,213 sessions, volunteer counsellors); Outreach services (64 people); Hospital-based Mental Health Safety Planning teams (51 people); Champion the Change campaigning events (5,650 people); Perinatal Support Worker; Workplace Wellbeing training (1,087 adults); Experts by Experience (EBE) programme (involvement in CEO recruitment, policy co-creation, forthcoming Lived Experience Interviewer programme) Custom geography from upload: Buckinghamshire and East Berkshire, UK

📊Key Metrics

6,869 people supported; 2,587 registered with services; 1,427 young people trained as peer mentors or through Mental Health Education in Schools; 1,087 adults trained in Workplace Wellbeing Key Metric 1
92% felt less isolated and more connected; 84% felt overall wellbeing improving; 87% better able to manage their mental health; 3,705 attendances at Wellbeing Groups Key Metric 2
6,287 volunteer hours given; 1,213 counselling sessions; 264 Safe Haven attendances as A&E alternative; 1,277 Gateway Navigator signpostings; 146,851 people reached through website and social media Key Metric 3

Key Outcomes

  • 110th anniversary in 2024/25 — one of the longest-running local Mind associations in England; Experts by Experience co-designed CEO recruitment process; new Influence and Participation Policy created with EBE involvement
  • Peer Support in Schools programme trained 572 young people as peer mentors; 206 people accessed two or more Bucks Mind services — demonstrating depth of need and confidence in services; Citizens Advice Bucks partnership planned for 2025/26 for mental health and financial challenges
  • Chair's fundraising walk with trustees raised £850 for 110th anniversary; Marlow Riders Ride Kite event raised £5,000 for Bucks Mind; Thames Bridges Trek in memory of trustee Carl Charlesworth raised £3,519; total community fundraising across multiple events

📍Geography

Other

2024 Enhanced

Muscular Dystrophy UK Impact Report 2023/24

2,752 people contacted helpline; 470 people received cost-of-living grants; 43 active research projects; 11 new grants worth £1.3 million awarded; £9.5 million total income — 16% increase on previous year
Key Metric 1
152 people supported through advocacy service; 24 Neuromuscular Centres of Excellence or Pursuing Excellence Awards; 10 NHS treatment appraisal processes participated in; 507 enrolments on e-learning modules; 465 attendees across six health professional upskilling webinars
Key Metric 2
80% of neuromuscular care advisor and clinical nurse specialist workforce attended Care Advisor Conference; 324 Changing Places toilets registered; for every £1 spent on fundraising, £3.70 raised; 68p in every £1 spent on charitable activities
Key Metric 3
SMA added to NHS newborn screening 'in-service evaluation' following MDUK co-secretariat work with UK SMA Newborn Screening Alliance; two treatment appraisals resulted in NHS approval; RHS Chelsea Flower Show garden secured to raise awareness with new audiences
2025 Enhanced

Annual Review April 2024 to March 2025

Social care services provided to thousands of people with learning disabilities; information and advice service caseloads growing in complexity; financial resilience rebuilt ahead of NI cost pressures
Key Metric 1
Omaze Yorkshire House Draw partnership raised £3.9m in 6 weeks with Jodie Whittaker as ambassador; awareness of people with learning disability significantly boosted through campaign
Key Metric 2
Voices Council (led by people with learning disabilities) challenged decisions on service handbacks, agency staffing and benefits access; new strategy to 2030 under development; new CEO Jon Sparkes OBE joined June 2024
Key Metric 3
Rebuilt financial resilience ahead of NI cost increases — 'more fortunate than many in the sector'; 80th anniversary approaching; new CEO appointed to lead strategy development
2024 Enhanced

Annual Report and Accounts 2024

518 new guide dog partnerships created in 2024 — 10% increase beating projections; 1,379 new puppies from breeding programme; 400th buddy dog partnership matched
Key Metric 1
17,500+ volunteers giving 12 million+ volunteer hours collectively; 2,400+ volunteers looked after dogs; 7,000+ training sessions on tech, travel and life skills delivered by Vision Rehabilitation Specialists
Key Metric 2
£47m raised through Sponsor a Puppy; £3.1m from raffles; £8.3m increased income from gifts in Wills; 3.45 million clicks to digital information and advice content; 5,900 visits to new Tech Selector assistive tech review tool
Key Metric 3
1,864 children and family members attended My Time to Play sessions; 6,852 large-print books delivered; 5,991 habilitation sessions completed to help children learn essential skills; 432,817 online learners accessing digital content