FAQs

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?

Counselling is a type of talking therapy that involves a trained therapist listening to you and helping you to understand your feelings and find your own solutions to problems. If you live in Lancashire and want to access free talking therapies, you can self-refer to MindsMatter, an IAPT (Increasing Access to Psychological Therapies) service provided by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Trust – https://www.lscft.nhs.uk/Mindsmatter.

Lancashire Mind don't provide talking therapies but we do have several funded services that support people on a one-to-one basis, where a Wellbeing Coach helps you to identify your wellbeing goal and then explore what steps can be taken to reach the goal over a number of sessions. This focuses on your current needs and doesn't look back into the past. Each service has its own eligibility criteria and catchment area - contact us to find out if you are eligible for this free service. Anyone aged 16+ who isn't eligible for the funded service can pay for sessions.

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 MindsMatter appointment but I need help now, can you help me?

You might be eligible for one of our funded services, which could offer you some support whilst you wait for your appointment. If you're not eligible for a funded service, we can give you information about helplines and other local support services that you could access in the meantime. If you are able to pay, we can give you links for directories of private counsellors or you may be interested in our paying for sessions with a Lancashire Mind Wellbeing Coach.

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.

How does Wellbeing Coaching differ from CBT and Counselling?

Wellbeing Coaching focuses on the individual's present needs rather than looking into the past. Together, in a collaborative relationship, a coach helps you to identify your wellbeing goal and explore what steps to take to reach the goal. For example, Coaches can help you to understand your mental health, develop coping strategies to manage your mental health and develop changes in your routine that may have a positive influence on your wellbeing.

Counselling involves the counsellor listening to you and helping you to gain a better understanding of your feelings and thought processes. Therapists respond empathetically and without judgement. Counselling looks at both past and present experiences and can be offered long term.

Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a collaborative, short-term psychotherapy treatment that focuses on identifying, understanding and changing thinking and behaviour patterns that can help change how you feel. CBT involves learning to challenge your habitual thoughts, triggered by a situation, and develop alternative, realistic thoughts that slow down or change your emotions, behaviour and physical symptoms.