Helping people to manage their own mental health problems

Our research has found that people have discovered their own ways to control serious mental health problems.

This has enabled them to keep their condition under better control and lead happier, more confident and more active lives.

Often these self-discovered therapies do as much to improve their mental health as the medical treatment they are receiving.

But we know there are many more people who could benefit early on from self-management if they had the knowledge and the opportunity to do so.

Sarah says ‘If I’m rowing I can count the strokes rather than listen to the voices’

By learning to read the warning signs of an approaching crisis, such as an episode of mania, some have found they can prevent the crisis happening.

Some people find that expressing themselves through activities like music and painting is invaluable for relaxing and relieving stress. Others manage their long-term health through better diet and regular exercise.

Please help us to make self-management available to everyone who needs it.

We want to deliver an innovative self-management course for 900 people with serious mental illness.

By equipping them with new skills to manage their own condition, they can greatly improve both their mental health and their everyday quality of life.

Make a donation today to help us get this much-needed project off the ground

Read how your donation can help

Natalie and Stuart's Story

People like Natalie and Stuart are the focus of our self-management courses because, first and foremost, they are about helping people to prevent or manage mental health crises.

But they will also help people maintain their mental wellbeing by stopping the downward spiral of disruptive thoughts and behaviour that serious mental illnesses often produce.

We know that people can live active and fulfilling lives despite serious mental illness, and that very often self-management is the key to this.

This is vital work and the costs are substantial.

Please make a donation now

Our training courses to deliver self-management techniques to people with serious mental illness will cost the Mental Health Foundation £184,000 in the coming year.

That’s a great deal of money to raise – but if enough of our friends and supporters send a donation now, we can do it.

In addition, your donation can help us to:

develop our findings into a self-help guide of strategies which can help people with serious mental illness to improve their own lives.
target healthcare professionals with information about self-management, so they can offer their patients better ways of avoiding crises and improving their long-term mental health.

campaign to gain government support to make self-management for people with serious mental illness more widely available through the health service.

Please donate now and be as generous as you can

More information on self management