Our mission is clear
For all young people to get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.
Doing so can prevent an emerging mental health need becoming a crisis.
At YoungMinds, our focus this past year has been on reaching more young people and the adults around them: refreshing our brand, enhancing our services, and amplifying the voices of young people in the mental health conversation. We have also been focused on engaging young people who we have been less good at reaching; reviewing our own practices, experience and ways of working as an organisation to provide more culturally relevant, accessible and inclusive support, as well as doing more to call out the social, historical and economic context that shapes mental health experiences and outcomes.
Throughout this past year, we’ve also been focused on developing our next strategy, spending time understanding our impact to date and what we can build on, as well as where we may want to work differently. This has involved research, engagement and design work with young people, colleagues across YoungMinds and many of our partners and funders, the insight from which will form the foundation of our next strategy cycle.
This year, we have continued to grow our impact across our three strategic programmes, to support young people, their families, and the professionals who work with them.
Our theory of change
Young people's mental health needs are not supported early enough, and often only when they have reached crisis point.
This is the problem we want to solve and we aim to address this through our three strategic programmes:
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Programme one: Never Alone
Helping young people look after their own mental health.
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Programme two: Someone To Turn To
Making sure young people have adults around who can really help and support them.
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Programme three: Powerful Young Voices
Making sure young people have the power to make change and ensure there is mental health support for anyone who needs it.
Through these programmes and by working with young people, our work will lead to these strategic outcomes:
- fewer young people need crisis or emergency support
- young people are able to get the help and support they need quickly and receive a high-quality service
- there’s a reduction in things that lead to young people struggling with their mental health and needing support
These outcomes mean we can achieve our mission and ultimate goal.