FAQs
Answers to the questions we’re most frequently asked
Are Mind and Lancashire Mind the same organisation?
Mind, the mental health charity, is based in London. They campaign for better mental health for people in England and Wales. Although we work closely with the national Mind organisation and use their branding, Lancashire Mind is a separate, independent charity. We work for the people of Lancashire and our vision is Mental Wellbeing for All. We have our own board of trustees and are responsible for sourcing our own funding.
People who donate to or fundraise for Mind will help to further their campaigning work across England and Wales. People who donate to or fundraise for Lancashire Mind will help us to provide services and projects across Lancashire.
Do you offer counselling/therapy?
Lancashire Mind now offer a range of low-cost talking therapies, Person Centre Counselling, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Wellbeing Coaching. For more information about these services take a look here Therapy & Coaching – Lancashire Mind
If you live in Lancashire and paying for a service is not an option at present, you can self-refer to Talking Therapies, a service provided by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust – https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/talking-therapies/self-referral
Alternatively, you can find details for private counsellors at www.counselling-directory.org.uk or www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk.
I’m on a waiting list for an NHS Talking Therapies appointment but I need help now, can you help me?
Whilst we try to keep our therapy waiting lists as low as possible, we are not an urgent, crisis management service. If you need urgent support with your mental health the below helplines and texting services will be able to support, you.
- Call the NHS’s Mental Health Crisis Line on 0800 953 0110
- Call Samaritans on 116 123
- Text SHOUT to 85258
- Call CALM on 0800 58 58 58
- Call Sane Line (4pm to 10pm) on 0300 304 700, email Sane support@sane.org.uk
- Call the National Suicide Prevention Hotline on 0800 689 5652 (6pm to midnight)
- If aged under 35 call Hopeline247 on 08000 684141 (24/7), text them on
07860 039967 or email pat@papyrus-uk.org
- If you are under 25 you can call The Mix on 0808 808 4994 (3pm to midnight) or text THEMIX to 85258
Do you have a helpline or advice service?
Our Operations Team answer calls between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday. They can’t offer a listening service or give advice, but they can provide signposting information for local and national services. There’s a mental health helpline for Lancashire that’s open 7pm to 11pm Monday to Friday and midday to midnight on Saturday and Sunday – 0800 915 4640. If you want to talk to someone now, Samaritans are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on 116 123.
Can you provide medical advice?
Lancashire Mind staff are not medically trained. Your GP is the best person to speak to about your mental health. If you’re looking for general information about a mental health condition, the national Mind website has a useful mental health A to Z (http://mind.org.uk/information-support/a-z-mental-health/). If you want advice about medication, speak to your GP or a pharmacist.
Can you help me with my PIP claim form and/or assessment?
If you are a Lancashire Mind tenant, your Tenancy Management Worker can help you with PIP and other benefit claims. If you aren’t one of our tenants, your local Citizens Advice Bureau may be able to help you to complete the claim form – find your nearest centre on the Citizens Advice website.
If you live in Lancashire and are looking for support when attending a PIP assessment, ICANN, the Independent Community Advocacy Network North, can provide this type of support. Visit the ICANN website for information.
Why do you charge for some of your services?
It’s not possible to attract funding for all of the services that we want to provide in order to achieve our mission. It’s particularly difficult to attract funding to offer services that we want to make universally available, for example, delivering talks to primary school children about the five ways to wellbeing. This means that we have to look at other ways to bring in income.
One way to do this is through donations and fundraising and we’re extremely grateful to the people who choose to support Lancashire Mind in this way. Less than 10% of our revenue currently comes from fundraising so one of our goals is to continue to increase this income stream. Another way we can bring in additional income, to allow us to provide more services, is to charge for some of these services.
When we charge for a service, the amount we charge is based on what it costs us to offer the service. If we do make any profit on the services we charge for, it goes straight back into the organisation to be used to provide further services. We try to keep costs as low as possible when we do charge for services and charging for services allows us to generate more income, have more diverse sources of income and therefore we’re better able to grow our services to reach more people across Lancashire.
