Our five founding Trustees worked brilliantly together – creating, developing and managing Peer Support Plus. We first sprang into existence as a Community Association because our friends at Leeds Mind had given notice they were no longer willing to fund open-ended, weekly Peer Support Groups. After more than twenty years successfully helping many hundreds of adults in Leeds, the two open-ended Support Groups hosted by Leeds Mind closed on 31 March 2020.
Group members and facilitators (they are all Peers) believed passionately in the value of weekly Peer Support Groups where participation is open-ended. They valued the support they received from their Peers and were determined to see their Groups continue and thrive.
Coincidentally, on 20 March 2020, the UK crashed into the first Covid lockdown. It was the day after we had Constituted as a Community Association. Just five months later on 12 August 2020, by administering the Association and operating a Peer Support Group by Zoom, Peer Support Plus CIO was formally Registered as a Charity.
We were helped initially by a small ‘seed-funding’ grant from national Mind.
As the UK began easing out of lockdown in June 2021, supported by a one-off Government Grant received in April 2021 via the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, we doubled our weekly Peer Support Group capacity – reaching out to help people whose lives and mental health were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Since then, as we all try to cope with the aftermath of the pandemic and/or additional impacts on our wellbeing from the ongoing economic crisis, the number of adults in Leeds whose mental health is suffering is continuing to grow.
Our Tuesday evening online Support Group by Zoom continues to help those whose personal circumstances (such as work, caring responsibilities, mobility and social anxiety) prevents them from attending our in-person Wednesday afternoon Support Group at Leeds City Council’s Lovell Park Mental Health Hub.
We are about to enter our fifth year of offering Peer facilitated Support Groups. Participation remains open-ended and free to all adults in the Leeds Metropolitan District. This year we will provide 10 seats at 100x two-hour Support Groups on an operating budget of just £1,500. That is extraordinary value.
In September 2022 we were awarded a one-off Grant through the Leeds Community Foundation to find, recruit and train four or more volunteer Facilitators with the aim of sustaining our two established weekly Peer Support Groups into the longer term and developing volunteer capacity to open a third. We were succesful in attracting more volunteers.
In June 2023 we received a one-off grant from The Rotary Club of Roundhay Leeds to help meet 2023/24 operating costs and the expense of expanding capacity.
Ongoing small Donations mean we reasonably expect to be financially secure until at least March 2026 but must ramp up our fundraising efforts to secure our long term future.
We choose to operate and manage the Charity at very low cost. Trustees mostly meet by Zoom. We have no employees, no office and no physical assets to support. Our operating costs are nearly all connected with providing Support Groups – including the Zoom licence, Insurance, DBS checks, our website, mobile phone, and our internet connected tablets which we can loan to enable ‘digitally disadvantaged’ individuals to participate in our Tuesday Support Group by Zoom.
All of our Trustees are volunteers. We are all ordinary everyday people and most of us continue to actively manage our own mental health. Together we achieved something extraordinary, despite the Covid pandemic and economic challenges. We are living proof, if that were needed, that Peer Support works.
Everyone experiences episodes of mental ill health just as everyone experiences episodes of physical ill health. Trustees need to be open-minded, compassionate, responsible and responsive. Ideally you will have Lived Experience of taking responsibility for and actively managing your own mental ill health – but that is not essential.
There are currently six Trustees, including two of the five founding Trustees who helped establish the charity in 2020. (A third founding Trustee continues to volunteer as a Facilitator.)
The Board would like to bring in fresh perspectives and greater diversity as well as broadening the range of skills and experiences available. We are open to adding one or two additional Trustees to the Board, especially if we can find someone who is enthusiastic about or has practical experience of fundraising. And we need someone to take over as Secretary Trustee when the charity’s current Secretary steps down for family reasons at the May 2024 AGM.
All of us discovered we could be effective Trustees – could you?
To learn more about Peer Support Plus CIO, please browse our website peersupportplus.org. You will probably want to read The Essential Trustee published by The Charity Commission and watch their short video which describes the general responsibilities of a Trustee.
If you are interested in exploring the possibility of volunteering as a Trustee and would like an informal chat, please leave a message at 07434 614 829 or email your telephone number to Lisa our volunteer Chair of Trustees chair@peersupportplus.org. Lisa will try to call back at a time that suits you.
To apply please see the last paragraph of our Advert for Trustees which you can download within ‘Volunteers and Role Descriptions‘ at https://www.peersupportplus.org/documents.
We look forward to hearing from you.