Summer Response 2018

Summer
response
2018
For supporters of Rethink Mental Illness
Inside…
- Our new event Walky Talky
is here!
- Mental Health Act Campaign
- What our amazing
supporters have done

Making a difference
Walky Talky is here! 2-3
What have our campaigns team been up
to and Mental Health Awareness Week 4-5
The latest appeal update 6-7
Our amazing fundraisers 8-9
Thank you for your support 10
Rethink Remembers 11
Our corporate partners are getting involved 12
Time to Change and Time to Talk Day 13
It’s time for Rethink Comedy again! 14
How the cancelled Bath Half inspired
our runner 15
Response is produced by the fundraising team
at Rethink Mental Illness.
For queries about supporting Rethink
Mental Illness, email info@rethink.org
or call 0121 522 7007.
Have you got an amazing fundraising
story to tell? Email your photos and
story to events@rethink.org
is here!
Welcome to your latest copy
of Response! We’re very excited
to announce our newest, very
own event for 23 September.
Walky Talky is about walking to raise
money, and awareness, of mental illness.
All ages and abilities can come together to
walk and talk.
The annual walk event is a 5K through
Regent’s Park in London this year. If you can’t
make that, don’t worry – we have info to make
it easy for you to organise your own walk.
Leading the way to a better
quality of life for everyone
severely affected by mental illness.
www.facebook.com/rethinkcharity
www.twitter.com/rethink_
www.rethink.org
Registered in England Number 1227970. Registered Charity Number 271028
Registered Office 89 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TP. Rethink Mental
Illness is the operating name of National Schizophrenia Fellowship, a company
limited by guarantee. © Rethink Mental Illness 2018.
2 Summer 2018

‘We’re so
excited to walk
around Regent’s
Park with lots
of other people,
knowing we
are all there to
support Rethink
Mental Illness
and make a
difference.’
Anika
Walky Talky is Rethink Mental Illness’s newest
5k walk event on Sunday 23 September in the
beautiful Regent’s Park.
Let’s challenge attitudes and change lives!
Taking part is as easy as putting one step in front
of the other.
To join us on our 5k London walk in Regent’s
Park on Sunday 23 September this year, please
get in touch with us on 020 7587 1693 or
events@rethink.org and have a look at our website
for more information www.rethink.org/walkytalky
Or if you would prefer to organise
your own walk, then please get in
touch with us the same way.
Fiona and her friends can’t wait to
join the event this year. ‘What a great
chance to get together with friends,
fundraise for an awesome charity and
talk about mental health.’
This year registration is free, but we do ask you raise whatever you can towards
our work. You’ll also get a t-shirt on the day and support with your fundraising.
www.rethink.org
3

Time to Update the
Mental Health Act
Your support means we are right now fighting for
changes to the Mental Health Act and making a real
difference with our Act for Mental Health campaign.
Why is it important?
As you may be aware, the Mental
Health Act 1983 sets out when a
person can be detained and treated
in hospital against their wishes (also
known as being ‘sectioned’).
While there’s strong support for
the Act, it is badly out of date and we
believe it should be reformed. As our
beneficiaries have continuously told
us that it’s failing to keep them safe
when they, or a loved one are very
unwell. With you, we’re campaigning
to change this.
Act for Mental Health
Many of you have already helped
to promote our call for people
– both patients and carers – to
share their experiences of the Act.
Thank you!
We have also been calling
on you to ask your MPs to show
their commitment to reforming
the Act by signing a parliamentary
petition. The more MPs who do
this, the more pressure there will
be for change.
You can still take action and support
this campaign by visiting:
www.rethink.org/actformentalhealth
and emailing your local MP.
* If you do email your MP using the link
above please use your personal email
address when filling in the online form.
The Independent Review
An independent review is now
taking place. Recently the first report
was published from it. It confirmed
serious problems with the Act and
how it’s currently being used.
Many of the 2,000 people who
have been detained under the
Mental Health Act told the Review
that the law fails to protect their
rights and dignity, and excludes
them from making decisions about
their own care.
Next steps
We are working closely with the
Review Team to input into the review,
via the Advisory and Working Groups.
Our representatives are Mark
Winstanley (Chief Executive),
alongside Ian Callaghan (Recovery &
Secure Care Programme Manager)
and Danielle Hamm (pictured, our
Associate Director of Campaigns).
Over the coming months
we’ll be keeping you informed of
developments and there will be more
opportunities for staff, volunteers and
people severely affected by mental
illness to get involved in the campaign.
If you have any questions about
this campaign, please don’t
hesitate to contact the Campaigns
and Public Affairs team at
campaigns@rethink.org
65 of the
533 MP’s across
England have
been emailed
thanks to you.
That’s 68% of all
constituencies!
Well done you!
So far 38 MP’s
have signed the
parliamentary
petition.
4 Summer 2018

Turning awareness into
action for Mental Health
Awareness Week
As mental health becomes a hotter topic, this year’s Mental Health
Awareness Week, 14-20 May, was bigger than ever!
In fact, great progress has been
made in increasing awareness
over the last few years, but of
course there’s so much more still
to do. That’s why, this year, we
encouraged the public to turn
awareness into action.
We ran an online campaign all
week, and shared daily blogs to
encourage people to take a range
of actions. These included: emailing
your MP; finding out more on
carers’ rights; and getting behind
Time to Change, the anti-stigma
campaign we run jointly with Mind.
We’re pleased to say the message
resonated, and we reached over
400,000 people online, and more
than 300 actions were taken.
And it’s not too late for you to get
involved too! Supporting people
living with mental illness is not
just a week in the calendar for
us, but an ongoing commitment,
and we won’t rest until there’s a
better life for everyone severely
affected by it.
Thank you so much for your support. Your
actions and donations mean we can reach
more people and share our message.
Go to www.rethink.org/MHAW and show your
support by turning your awareness into action too.
www.rethink.org
5

Appeal update
Since the last issue of Response, two exciting appeals landed with you,
and we wanted to say a special thanks to everyone who responded.
In February, the topic was ‘innovation’.
• We told you about the project you funded in the previous year:
a trial period with a mental health navigator within one of our
crisis houses. Paula, who is in the navigator post, is someone
who will look at the whole journey for those people trying to
move between secure services, crisis care and community care.
She will liaise with the different organisations on behalf of that
person where challenging situations can impact their recovery.
You made this happen.
• And then we told you about this year’s project, on physical health.
Thanks to you – we raised £13,000 towards the start of a two-year
project to help ensure people get the right health checks at the right
time. Design our physical health toolkit, and push for better health
monitoring and to reduce the shocking gap in life expectancy for
those affected by mental illness.
And just a few weeks ago at the
end of May, we wrote to you about
our national advice and information
service. Money is still coming in
for this one – at the time of going
to press we had reached £5,000
which is amazing.
Thank you so much to
everyone who donated or
shared it – it means a lot!
All the money donated goes
towards our advice service to help
them answer more calls, from
people like Susan – whose story
you read about in that letter…
6 Some photo and names have been changed to protect anonymity.
Summer 2018

As a fellow supporter of Rethink Mental Illness I wanted to share
what their advice service means to me.
We’d already been through a lot – my daughter had been in and out
of hospital, sectioned, had no joined-up care. Her physical health
suffered, on top of her mental torment and paranoia. Then one night
she told me that she knew she had no future, and there was only
one way out.
What followed was several years of support and advice from Rethink
Mental Illness to get her the best care. They worked tirelessly to
support us through second opinions, finding specialist lawyers,
giving benefits advice, detailed information on a tribunal process...
everything you could think of to do with mental health.
It has transformed her life. For the first time, she has consistent care,
entirely under her control. And as for me – I’m now part of a Rethink
Mental Illness support group. I rarely need the advice line for my
family, but I still regularly call to follow something up for my group.
I couldn’t put a price on the help we have had from Rethink
Mental Illness.
Thank You!
PS The advice service
can be reached on
advice@rethink.org
or 0300 5000 927
(weekdays 9.30am
to 4pm)
Order your Rethink Mental Illness
Christmas cards now
It may be summer but we know you
like to plan ahead. This year we have
a special multi pack of two Christmas
cards designed by members of our
wonderful Braintree Art Group.
Christmas cards are a really great way to
support Rethink Mental Illness by raising
funds but also awareness. Support us this
Christmas 2018 to make sure we can be
there to offer support for people in 2019.
Use the order form to purchase your
Christmas cards, and visit
www.rethink.org/shop from 1 October
to find the new designs online.
Robin
Christmas Tree
Special Edition
Multi Pack
www.rethink.org
7

THANK YOU
ALL SO MUCH!
A well earned rest for Jack Greenwood
after the Edinburgh Marathon
Janet (far right of group) fundraised in the office
with her colleagues and raised a brilliant £523.37
Becki Green is getting ready for
the London Triathlon, thanks for
your support
Sarah Hindle is at it aga
the London Tri by doing
Jemima and Paul at the finish of the Cloisters
to Oysters Cycle. The event raised over £5,000
which is incredible! Thank you so much.
Justine Bourne raised money for the SOS
service in Brighton by doing a skydive, that
was super brave!
Rosa Glover took on a Tough M
team and survived, thank you
Our amazing supporter and group
member Stephen Salmon completed this
year’s Machu Picchu trek, what a view!
Our incredible cheering squad were on hand this year
to help our London Marathon team over the line
R
su
th
Marie Wroe, who is lead on Dance & T
at Doncaster College raised a great £5

Chris Ives receives his certificate from the Lord
Mayor of Canterbury after finishing this years
Cloisters to Oysters
Chloe Hunter on the move at the London
Marathon. Thank you for raising an
incredible £2,137!
Debbie Tulloch getting ready to start the
London Marathon! You did brilliantly!
in and getting ready for
the Blenheim Tri 2018
Anna Price and the team at the start of the
London Marathon, you were all amazing!
Harry Brian didn’t let the cancellation of the Bath Half
stop him finding another challenge, good work Harry!
udder with her
so much
Owen Robinson raised an astounding £5,271
with the help of his family by running the London
Marathon, you definitely earned that pint!
The Pizza Hut team were brilliant in the
Brighton 10k, thank you for your hard work
ichard Cook ran the Derby Half Marathon in
pport of Rethink Mental Illness and is running
e Great North Run as well! You’re amazing Rich!
heatre
00
We couldn’t do what we do without the
support of volunteers. Thank you Nathifa
and Eileen at Cloisters to Oysters this year!
Well done Chloe Gibson for finishing
the Surrey Half and raising £162

You are all amazing!
This is where we get to say a huge thank
you for all your incredible support. It has
meant we can continue to help people
living with mental illness by answering
calls to our Advice and Information
Service, help set up more support groups
and campaign to make real change.
Whether you are a donor, ran a
marathon, skydived out of a plane or
held a tea party to raise funds for Rethink
Mental Illness you are making a difference.
Our fundraisers have blown us away
in 2018! Already this year we have seen
our incredible London Marathon team
absolutely smash it and raise over £50,000.
It’s not all been about marathons
though. Marie Wroe, Lead on Dance
and Theatre at Doncaster College, raised £500 through ticket sales for a
performance at her college.
We must also thank our cover star Sarah Lancaster for taking part
in our Celebrating Lives Weekend at Colour Obstacle Rush 5k run and
raising over £400 which is brilliant!
Our fundraisers
are incredible!
Sahara Trek
We are now taking bookings
for next year’s incredible
trek on 16 March 2019. This
challenge brings supporters
together to raise awareness
and much needed funds to
help change the lives of those
that are severely affected by
mental illness. Sign up before
1st September 2018. Email us
for more info.
Tea Party
Book yourself in for the
experience of a lifetime while
supporting Rethink Mental
Illness. Tick this big one off your
bucket list. There’s airfields
available all round the country
and it’s a year-round activity,
contact us to find out more.
Bath Half Marathon
We have places in this brilliant
run on 17 March 2019 and
would love you to join our
largest team ever. Voted the
UK’s best road race this is
a great first timer’s run or a
chance to hit that personal
best while raising money and
awareness for Rethink Mental
Illness. Last entry Feb 2019.
Paul Canary was part of our London Marathon
team and said: “I personally think the London
Marathon is one of the most unbelievable
events in the world. The support, generosity
and love of our capital city is like nowhere
else and it truly is one of the most amazing
experiences which I will treasure and
hopefully be able to take part in again.”
Tough Mudder
Tough Mudder puts teamwork
over finisher ranking in a
challenge that allows you to
experience exhilarating, yet
safe, world class obstacles
you can’t find anywhere else.
If getting muddy for charity is
your thing sign up and join our
biggest team ever in 2018!
If you’ve been inspired, want to try something different or just support
a cause you feel passionate about let us know. Tell us what you want
to do and we can help make it happen.
Say hello on events@rethink.org
If you want to take part in
any of these events please
contact events@rethink.org
or call 020 7840 3040
for more information.
10 Winter 2015

If we don’t, who will?
Our supporter Shirley, pictured, talks to us
about the importance of gifts in wills.
You and I know what it’s like to try and navigate the
healthcare system to get the help we need. We’ve
lived through the anger and frustration. And we don’t want
other families to have to face it alone.
Rethink Mental Illness helps stop people with mental
illness falling through the gaps in the system, but they
rely on gifts in wills to fund their Advice and Information
Service, peer support groups and campaigning work.
We know that mental illness isn’t always a popular
cause. So because of those we’ve lost. And because
of those we’ve saved, it’s down to us.
We can change how mental illness is treated,
by leaving a legacy to Rethink Mental Illness.
If you’d like a little more information first, visit www.rethink.org/wewill
to request a free guide, call Dan Walshe on 020 7840 3032.
Rethink Remembers gives supporters the
opportunity to celebrate the life of a loved
one who has passed away. With regular gifts
in their memory, events and tribute funds,
we are able to provide services that support
some of the most vulnerable.
This year we celebrated the lives of all those
no longer with us on the 9 and 10 June and
it got very colourful! We had places in the
Color Obstacle Rush, the 5k fun run with
colour powder and festival music. Our
Celebrating Lives Weekend was amazing.
We hope that next year we can help our
in memory supporters to continue to do
something meaningful and exciting.
By supporting Rethink Mental Illness in
remembering a loved one, we are able to
lead the way to a better quality of life for
everyone affected by mental illness. If you
want to do something to celebrate the life of
someone close to you go to the website
www.rethink.org/rethinkremembers or
contact Bernice.Williams@rethink.org
www.rethink.org
11

News From Our Corporate Partners
An enormous well done to our partners Ninja
Theory, whose game Hellblade: Senua’s
Sacrifice not only raised £60,000 for our
work, but went on to win an incredible five
BAFTA awards for its portrayal of a warrior
experiencing symptoms of psychosis.
Thanks to
Royal Mail’s
work with
Mental Health
UK, we’ve
received
funding this
year to help us grow our network of community
support groups for people affected by mental
illness and for their carers and families. We
are also very pleased to be involved in their
Everyday People film, which highlights the
everyday occurrence of mental health problems
for many people, which is available on Youtube.
A massive thank you to
Lloyds Banking Group,
whose colleagues
and customers have
now raised over £4.8
million for Mental
Health UK. This has
already enabled the
launch of a pioneering
new service, Mental
Health & Money
Advice. This is the UK’s first advice service dedicated
to helping people understand, manage and improve the
relationship between their financial and mental health.
See www.mhma.org.uk for details, and look out for more
details about new activities in the coming months.
Did you see the Lloyds Bank
#GetTheInsideOut adverts
on Channel 4 over spring
with our partner charity
Mental Health UK? A huge
thank you to Professor
Green, Jeremy Paxman, and
all the spokespeople who
took part in the campaign.
They will be re-running these
ads, so do look out for them
again through July.
Virgin Trains have been amazing supporters this
year, raising over £90,000, which has helped us
continue our work in communities along its West
Coast Network.
Here is one of their
team fundraising
on Star Wars Day
– next to our very
own train!
Congratulations to our partners Horwich Farrelly,
who raised £21,000 for Rethink Mental Illness this
year, and were nominated for a Better Society
Awards for Best Partnership With A Health Charity.
Hello to new Rethink Mental
Illness corporate supporters Cripps
LLP and Branston Potatoes. We
look forward to working with you this year!
If you work for a company you think might like to support us and have a whole lot of fun, please
get in touch with our Corporate Fundraising Team on 020 7840 3111.
12 Summer 2018

#timetotalk
Biggest time
to talk day yet
We are proud to say
that Time to Talk Day
2018 was the most
successful yet.
Launched five years ago, Time to
Talk Day is the flagship awareness
day of Time to Change, the
anti-stigma and discrimination
campaign we run with Mind, which
sets out to get people talking about
mental health across the country.
Held on the first Thursday of
February, this year saw the day
go UK-wide with support from sister
campaigns Time to Change Wales,
SeeMe Scotland and Change
Your Mind Northern Ireland. And
we’re thrilled to say we kept the
momentum up all day long!
You might have spotted the day
featured on the Lorraine Show,
or in your newspaper – or heard
an interview with one of our
spokes people on the radio.
Throughout most of the day
#timetotalk was the number one
trend on Twitter, while Stephen Fry,
George Ezra, Kate Nash, Rita Ora
and Sam Smith all got involved.
The message this year was
to encourage people to talk
wherever they were. Thousands
had conversations in workplaces,
homes, cafes, community centres
and schools. On trains, buses
and bicycles. During football
matches, band rehearsals and
running practice. We even had
people talking about mental health
up a mountain!
In our annual participant survey, 91%
of respondents said they thought
the people around them were more
likely to talk about mental health as
a result of taking part.
So let’s keep talking all
year round and help change
the way we all think and act
about mental health.
For ideas of how to help end the stigma, check out:
www.time-to-change.org.uk/change-makers
www.rethink.org
13

Thank you…
it means a lot
Many of you completed the insert in the last edition of Response, to tell us not
only how you want to hear from us from now on, but also that we can add Gift Aid
to any donations you make. Thank you!
And in the last few weeks – we’ve
been asking many of you again,
by email, letter and phone, if
you’d like to keep hearing from
us. We know everyone has been
a bit overrun with emails from
companies asking you to ‘opt-in’
to newsletters, and we’re so glad
you chose us.
So those of you receiving this
edition of Response – you’re
special. You have chosen to
keep in touch, and for that we’re
incredibly grateful – we couldn’t do
all we do, without you.
Really, it’s YOU helping people
reach out and join up in our
support groups around the
country. It’s YOU giving expert
advice and information to those
in need. And it’s YOU fighting
discrimination and campaigning
for better services. So thanks.
From everyone here.
And if you’re interested in a bit
more (hopefully ‘plain English’)
information on how we treat your
data, and what privacy and
GDPR means for you, we have
some pages up on
www.rethink.org/about-us/your-data
Rethink Comedy Returns!
Russell Kane is back with another hilarious night
of jokes and awareness-raising.
Last year saw Russell get together an incredible line-up of comedians,
including Adam Hills, Sarah Pascoe and Nathan Caton, and raised
over £7,000 to support people living with mental illness.
This year we are very proud to announce that we’ll be returning to
the Comedy Store in London for even more laughter on 8 October!
Expect a stellar line up. Lots of laughs and plenty of awareness raising.
Tickets will be going on sale soon so go to
www.rethink.org/rethink-comedy to keep up to date and find
out when you can grab your tickets.
14 Summer 2018

Bath Halfway Anyway
You train for months to run a half marathon but when you turn up it’s been
cancelled. What would you do? For one of our supporters the answer was simple
– run through the bitter February snow to reach that finish line! Here, Sarah tells us
why she decided to be her own inspiration and run solo for Rethink Mental Illness.
I felt if I could run a half marathon
and raise some money for Rethink
Mental Illness, then I was doing
my bit to help end the stigma surrounding
mental illness.
That’s kind of why I set myself the
challenge of running the Bath Half Marathon.
I wanted to give back to a charity who
are holding out olive branches to people
struggling. I’m not a runner. In fact, I was
the girl at 15 in school who got in trouble for
truanting cross country (and as a teacher,
this is not good!). As you can imagine,
on Friday 2 March, two days before run
day, when I heard the half marathon was
cancelled, I was initially ecstatic!!
But then Friday night was spent reading
over my fundraising page, looking at the
comments from all the amazing sponsors
and I woke up Saturday morning thinking
“I’ve got to blooming run it!”. So I did!!!
Three layers, scarf, Rethink Mental Illness top
and headphones... snow, sludge and ice...
13.1 miles... leg ache and frozen fingers... but
I did it!! I ran a half marathon. I evidenced my
run/slide through selfies with a mileage tracker
and I finished with a dive into the snow!
I did it because I wanted to say thank you to
the people who helped me raise over £800
for Rethink Mental Illness: I did it because
I wanted to be my own inspiration: I did it
because I needed to encourage people to
make mental illness something
they can talk honestly about.
Truly incredible, thank you so much Sarah. If you feel
inspired and want to take part in a fundraising event you
can email us events@rethink.org or call on 020 7840 3040.
www.rethink.org
15

Inspired? Make a gift today
We hugely value your support, which is enabling
us to improve the lives of people severely affected
by mental illness. We’d love to do so much more, and
with your help, we can. Any gift you can afford will help
us offer more support and services across England.
You can help us support more people by donating
online at www.rethink.org/response or alternatively
you can complete the section below.
Name
Address
Telephone
Email
1. How would you like to give?
Please delete / tick where appropriate
Credit / Debit card Please go to section 2.
Cheque
Please enclose cheque made payable to Rethink Mental Illness.
2. I’d like to make a donation by credit/debit card
I would like to donate £
Name on card
Card number
Jonny Benjamin MBE and Bryony Gordon
We are proud that our Ambassador
Jonny Benjamin MBE has
published a memoir, The Stranger
On The Bridge, about his life before
and after our #FindMike campaign.
He told us “I kept a diary from
when I was really young so I had
loads to go through, all through
my teenage years, through my
twenties. I’d kind of forgotten how
bad a place I had been in, and
what I’d actually gone through.
It was tough but cathartic at the
same time. There are things in
there that people don’t know, but I
always think, if it can help someone
feel less alone, make someone
realise they can overcome whatever
it is, then I think it’s worth it.”
Thank you Jonny for sharing
your story.
Start date
M M Y Y M M Y Y
Expiry date
Issue no if applicable
Security number
last three
digits on
back of card
Please return this form with your gift today to
Freepost Rethink Mental Illness
We’re an “opt in” charity, this means that you choose how we contact you.
We want to continue telling you how you’re making a difference, but know
some people prefer not to hear from us at all. If nothing’s changed and
you’re happy with how you hear from us, you don’t need to do anything.
But if you want to change anything, just let us know at FREEPOST
Rethink Mental Illness or on 0121 522 7007. Remember the permission
you give us will only last 2 years. We may contact you around this time if
we haven’t heard from you.