English▼
Afrikaans
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Azerbaijani
Basque
Belarusian
Bengali
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Catalan
Cebuano
Chichewa
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Corsican
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dutch English
Esperanto
Estonian
Filipino
Finnish
French
Frisian
Galician
Georgian
German
Greek
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hausa
Hawaiian
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong
Hungarian
Icelandic
Igbo
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Javanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Khmer
Korean
Kurdish (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz
Lao
Latin
Latvian
Lithuanian
Luxembourgish
Macedonian
Malagasy
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Maori
Marathi
Mongolian
Myanmar (Burmese)
Nepali
Norwegian
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Punjabi
Romanian
Russian
Samoan
Scottish Gaelic
Serbian
Sesotho
Shona
Sindhi
Sinhala
Slovak
Slovenian
Somali
Spanish
Sudanese
Swahili
Swedish
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Turkish
Ukrainian
Urdu
Uzbek
Vietnamese
Welsh
Xhosa
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu
Minding the Past
Minding the past: The Mind Charity Shop in Taunton 1982
Mind in Somerset has had a long and storied history. This week Jean Grant, founder and former chairperson, takes us all the way back to 1982 to the opening of Taunton’s first Mind charity shop in Roman Road.
This is how we started, graduating from the Taunton Saturday market stall in the late 1970s.
At the time National Mind were promoting mental health support and understanding through the development of Nearly New shops, a subtle way of getting our message across and different to the popular concept of ‘charity shops’. also, clothes were still quite expensive so ‘recycling’ was more common.
40 years ago, people didn’t talk about mental illness, even now we have to encourage
discussion, which we do through our groundbreaking anti stigma campaign Time To Change Somerset, but it has become easier, there has been immense positive change.
The Roman Way site (which is today the home of N D Cycles) was chosen as it was not in the high street so rent and rates were lower and the shop could be seen by passing traffic. The young girl
in the photo is my daughter – who liked to help. The shop was run entirely by volunteers
with one paid manager by Mind who also undertook the lease.
After 3 years of running the shop we chose to evolve into setting up a mental health support group and the rest is history.
Author: Marc Lewis
Corporate Training
Mind in Somerset has a large corporate and community training resource. Our experienced trainers can tailor teaching to your needs and the needs of your staff. Find out more
All our services are free!
Mind in Somerset couldn’t exist without your support – whether that’s through a donation, leaving a gift in your Will, or organising a fundraising event – you can help us be there for more people. Find out more
Volunteering
If you have some free time, whether it’s 2 hours per week or 20 hours per week, we would love to hear from you. We are currently looking to recruit volunteers to support us. Find out more
Calendar of Services
Continuing our volunteers' stories is the wonderful Barry!
"I first got involved with Mind in 2009 when I saw a letter in the County Gazette asking for volunteers for the new Advocacy in Mind project, a forerunner to Bridging the Gap. After training I acted as an advocate, supporting people in their dealings with employers, tribunals, the DWP, agencies the DWP appointed to assess people’s health, doctors, even civil courts, until Spring 2014 when I had to drop out due to ill-health. However, I continued to keep in touch with Mind and have ensured that mental health issues are spotlighted regularly on 10Radio, my local community station. I returned to Mind in 2017 to do reception work for a few months, and subsequently did admin back-up for the Somerset Suicide Bereavement Support Service and then the fundraising team. In May 2019 I attended the training sessions to become a Time to Change Community Champion and in that role have attended the Talking Cafes run by the Village Agents and linked up with various local organisations, including the library, to run drop-in days to mark Mental Health Awareness Week and other events.
My interest in being involved with Mind stems from my own depression, anxiety and occasional panic attacks. I was diagnosed and hospitalised in my early 20s but was unable to access any support and was extremely reluctant to reveal I had mental health issues, even to close friends, because of the stigma which was even more widespread than now. For several years I volunteered for charities for homeless people, many of whom had mental health issues either as a cause or a result of their homelessness. Then and since my involvement with Mind I would try to reassure people that mental ill-health should not be a cause of embarrassment, let alone something to be ashamed of, and I began to take my own advice: being more open about my issues encouraged some friends and acquaintances to “confess” theirs, which made it easier for us to give mutual support. My involvement with Mind and all the dedicated people I have worked alongside there gave me the confidence to initiate this."
Well done Barry, both for your achievements and for being so open and honest. I’ve tried to follow a similar path, including becoming a Time to Change champion. Physical health has curtailed a lot of my activities, but I know how good it feels to help, particularly in encouraging more openness about mental health difficulties. You are a great example ❤️💕❤️
At Mind in Somerset, our response to the ever-changing world we are finding ourselves in has been to transform our services to digital platforms and to provide free training and awareness programmes to support your mental wellbeing and of those around you. We would love to hear from you about the type of online offerings you would like to see available. Please take some time to complete our poll by selecting the courses/training options you would like us to get scheduling in the diary for 2020/21:
POLL: WHAT TRAINING WOULD YOU LIKE?
poll.app.do
At Mind in Somerset, our response to the ever-changing world we are finding ourselves in has been to transform our services to digital platforms and to provide free training and awareness programmes to support your mental wellbeing and of those around you.To celebrate volunteers week we want to celebrate our amazing volunteers! Volunteers are integral to every part of our service from answering calls on Mindline to helping with peer support groups we simply couldn't do it without them! Everyday this week we are going to feature a story from one of our volunteers. First up is the amazing Amanda.
"I started volunteering for Mind in Somerset (then Mind in Taunton and West Somerset) in January 2016 as a bit of a new year's resolution. I wasn't really sure what I was expecting, but I had no idea where volunteering would actually take me.
Volunteers are integral to the services that Mind in Somerset provide, and as such, I have received excellent quality training, mentoring and support. At times, the role can be difficult, but there is a real emphasis on the emotional and mental well-being of volunteers within the organisation.
In return for my time, I have been given the most amazing opportunities as a result of being involved with Mind in Somerset. I have represented the charity at various community events, I have skydived, I ran the London Marathon in 2017 as part of the Heads Together campaign, which led to completing a 100km ultra marathon a couple of months later! The skills and training I've received during my time has led to new job opportunities, and I have made friendships that will be lifelong."
It is a difficult time for everyone at the moment, but don't suffer alone, there is help out there and Somerset Charities are here to support you.
Somerset Community Foundation
#somersetmentalhealthsupport
#smallbutvital
#dontsufferinsilence
WOW! We can not believe how well the amazing Cheryl has done absolutely smashing her target! Thank you so much to Cheryl for this incredible achievement and to everyone who has donated so generously! It is hard not to be inspired by your story and your challenge.
www.justgiving.com/fundraising/cheryl-summers
We are grateful for support from:
