Sheila and Mind Out
“MindOut is a mental health service run by and for lesbians, gay men, bisexual and transgender people. Based in Brighton and Hove, 100% of the team have lived experience of mental health needs, or caring responsibilities for a person with lived experience. It is the only project of its type in the UK, and provides advice, information, advocacy, a peer support group programme, wellbeing activities and a food & allotment project, as well as being involved in a number of national initiatives like Time to Change, the national programme which aims to end the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems. I have personal experience of how vital a service this is for the LGBT community in Brighton and Hove, and know of people whose lives have been transformed by contact with this project. It is also a model for other projects of this kind in the rest of the UK. In 2014, MindOut has been nominated as a finalist in BBC’s ‘All in the Mind’ 25th Aniversary Awards for outstanding mental health projects in the UK which make a real difference to people’s lives”
