Support in Mind's new name is a Change for the better - Nick Ward

We are relaunching our charity with a new name, branding, website and an updated vision, mission and values.

For 50 years now Support in Mind Scotland has been delivering care and support for those affected by mental illness. We proudly support thousands of people across the country with their mental health. Over those 50 years our mission has remained the same: to support those affected by mental illness. That won’t be changing.

However, over the past number of years the charity has grown and with it has grown our ambitions to support more people in more parts of the country, to support them to access our services and to play a larger role in advocating for and providing a platform for people with lived experience to have their voices heard.

Mental illness and poor mental health can affect anyone. We want our charity to be more public facing, more open and accessible so that we can reach more people that might need support. Our previous name and branding for ‘Support in Mind Scotland’ was clearly holding us back from our ambitions. The name was long and clunky, and the amount of people who thought we were a part of the mental health charity Mind was off the charts.

A cafe run by Change Mental Health. The charity is aiming to support more people in a modern, inclusive way

We wanted a fresh, dynamic name that represents what we want to be and what we want to achieve. We wanted a new name to be a verb and a call to arms.

We are now Change Mental Health.

We want to change mental health services to be more modern and accessible. We want them to be less clinical and more person-centred. We want to change public perceptions of mental health and mental illness, to fight stigma and discrimination. We want people to know that their mental health can change, that things can get better with the right support.

Alongside a name change we have new branding and are launching a brand-new website, which will be cleaner and more accessible. We want it to be the front line of the support we can offer to people.

Nick Ward, Change Mental Health CEO

With our name change we have also launched an updated version of our vision, mission and values. We want to see a future where no one has to face mental illness alone and to do this we will do two things: we will provide transformational services to make sure everyone can get the support they need, when they need it and in a way which works best for them; and we will continue to try and change society for the better by changing attitudes, fighting stigma and influencing those in power.

With any change, it’s important to recognise the journey which led us here. The experience and hard work of everyone who has been involved with Support in Mind Scotland over the last 50 years and helped to build the foundation for which we will launch Change Mental Health. We have strong ties in the communities we work in and we will keep those connections going strong. Our person-centred, holistic support, which is based on individual needs and lived experience, will stay the same.

With our rebrand we have raised our ambitions both for us as an organisation but also for what mental health support can look like in Scotland. This is the next exciting step in our journey to support more people in a modern, inclusive way. We believe that Change Mental Health can provide the support that people need and we will continue to play our part in reshaping society.

We hope you will join us on this journey by joining as a member or making a small donation to the vital work we do.

Nick Ward, Change Mental Health CEO. For more information visit changemh.org