About This Application and Guidance Notes

Peer Support Grants Programme

Guidance Notes

April 2015

At a glance…

What is it? / As part of our wider Peer Support programme, we plan to make grants to projects that want to offer peer support to more adults in our pilot areas, and work with us to build an evidence base for the effectiveness of peer support.
What is the minimum funding available? / £5,000
What is the maximum funding available? / £15,000
Where is funding available? / Suffolk (postcodes IP1-IP33)
Coventry and Warwickshire (postcodes CV1-CV13, CV21-CV23, CV31-CV37 and CV47)
Northamptonshire (postcodes NN1-NN18, NN29)
Leeds (postcodes LS1–LS29)
Lancashire (postcodes BB1–BB12, BD23, BL6-BL7, FY1– FY8, L37, L39, L40, LA1–LA6, OL12–OL13, PR1-PR9, WN6, WN8)
Southampton and New Forest (postcodes SO14-SO19, SO30-SO31, SO41, SO45, BH23-BH25)
Devon (postcodes DT7, EX1-EX23, EX31-EX39, PL1-PL35, TA21, TQ1-TQ14)
Teesside (postcodes TS1-TS29)
London borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of Westminster (postcodes NW10, SW1W, SW1X, SW3, SW5-SW7, SW10, W2, W6, W8-W12, W14)
How many grants will be awarded? / We expect to fund 5 grants in each area (a total of 45 grants)
How long can my funded activity run? / All funded activity must start in October 2015, and can last for up to twelve months
When are applications due? / Applications must be submitted by 2pm on Wednesday 10 June 2015.
Where do I send my application? / Completed applications, and all attachments, can be sent to
When will I hear if I have been successful? / Decisions will be communicated with applicants by mid-August 2015

INTRODUCTION

About this application and guidance notes

These notes are to help applicants to the Mind Peer Support Grants Programme

There are two sections in these guidance notes:
Section One – About Mind’s Peer Support Grants gives more detail about what the grants programme seeks to achieve and what activity grants will be awarded for.
Section Two – Successful Applications outlines our expectations of projects that are successful through this fund, and includes information about monitoring and evaluation.
It is important you read this document in its entirety before starting an application and follow the guidance carefully. When assessors read applications they consider responses to questions against the information given in these guidance notes.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that the information they provide is correct and complete. The Grants Team will not be able to contact applicants to check information.

Accessibility

If you have any particular communication needs, please email us at or write to us at Grants Team, Mind, 15-19 Broadway, London E15 4BQ, providing contact details. We will aim to respond to all queries within 5 days of receipt (but please note that this may be longer in the weeks just prior to the application deadline).

Terminology

In this document ‘mental health problems’ refers to all conditions which can affect mental wellbeing such as anxiety, depression, phobias and diagnoses of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. This does not refer to dementia, learning disabilities or autism.

‘Personal experience of mental health problems’ refers to a person’s own mental health problems, either diagnosed or undiagnosed, but which have had a significant impact on the person’s life.

Mind’s publication ‘Mental health peer support in England: Piecing together the jigsaw’ states that ‘in its most natural form, ‘peer support’ is simply support exchanged between people who share something in common: they are entering into something on a more or less shared, or equal, basis. In a mental health context, peer support refers to a situation where people with experience of mental health problems are offering each other support based on their personal experience. Usually, the support that is exchanged between people might go in either direction or in different directions at different times, depending on their needs: there is no pre-determined ‘giver’ or ‘receiver’ of support’.

‘Peer-led peer support’ is activity that originated from, and is led – run, managed and controlled by people with personal experience of mental health problems who also access the support. In peer-led peer support, mutuality is key – support is both given and received (as opposed to staff-led peer support where workers may have personal experience but it is not expected that they will necessarily benefit from the peer support).

‘Marginalised communities’ refers to communities that experience elevated levels of discrimination. This includes Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities; lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and people who identify as transgender (LGBT); people who live in rural areas; refugees and asylum seekers; disabled people and/or people with long term conditions; older people.

When discussing ‘Rural Communities’ we are using the Government Statistical Service classification of rural and urban areas. In this, rural areas are settlements of below 10,000 people, or open countryside.

‘Social Capital’ refers to a person feeling a part of and able to contribute in some way to their local community. This can be through volunteering, feeling connected to people in their locality and feeling able to use local resources and facilities.

‘Empowerment’ involves a person developing the confidence and strength to set realistic goals and fulfil their potential.

More information

If you have outstanding questions after reading these guidance notes please refer to the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on our website. These questions will be updated throughout the application process.

We will also be running information sessions within each funding area. Please register your interest through our website to receive more information.

For general enquiries not addressed by our FAQs please e-mail us at the below address. We will aim to respond to your query within 5 days (please note this may be longer in the weeks just prior to the application deadline). Although we can answer questions about the process and criteria, we can’t offer support to you to develop your application.

E-mail:

Website:

Section One

About Mind’s Peer Support grants

The Peer Support Grant Fund is an open grants scheme run by Mind with funding from the Big Lottery Fund. The grants fund aims to distribute £540,000 to approximately 45 peer support projects working with adults (18 years and over) across England, with funded activity taking place in the twelve months October 2015 – October 2016.

Mind is committed to supporting work within Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) and rural communities and has therefore dedicated a minimum of 40% of the total funds for grants to projects run by and working with people from these communities.

In addition to these priority areas, our Grants Panels will consider the grants portfolio as a whole and aim to ensure a good representation with regard to geographical spread within each designated area, different methods of peer support, partnership working, value for money, members of the public reached through the project, and other diversity strands (such as LGBT people, older people, people with disabilities or long term conditions).

Why is Mind giving peer support grants?

In September 2014, the Big Lottery Fund awarded Mind funding for the Peer Support Programme.

By setting up the Peer Support Programme, we’re responding to the calls from those of us living with mental health problems who would benefit from access to peer support across England. The programme aims to gather evidence about the effectiveness of peer support and to support its future sustainability.

This bid has been developed in response to work undertaken by Mind in collaboration with a wide range of partners skilled in delivering and passionate about peer support. In particular this bid is a response to the recommendations in our earlier scoping report, what we have learned at our yearly Peerfest events, the popularity of our Elefriends online community and previous work with marginalised communities.

The key aims of the programme are to:

focus on building an evidence base for the effectiveness of one to one, group and online peer support
promote the value of peer support to those with experience of mental health problems, mental health service providers and commissioners.

We’ll be delivering the Peer Support Programme alongside a number of partners including Depression Alliance, Bipolar UK, nine local Minds, our evaluation partners and the organisations funded through the grant fund.

Our target outcomes for the programme are:

People who access peer support have improved mental health, greater social capital, and greater levels of empowerment
Grass roots peer-led groups and organisations have increased sustainability, leading to more high quality peer support

Commissioners have increased awareness of the value and benefit of peer support and its contribution to commissioning outcomes
People with mental health problems, their families and carers have more information about the benefits of peer support, leading to greater choice in how they live and recover

Where is funding available?

Mind’s Peer Support programme is a pilot running in nine areas across England with the aim of building a robust evidence base for the added social and economic value of peer support, as well as its service satisfaction, and impact and contribution to health outcomes. As such, the grants programme is focussed on funding activity within the following areas:

- Suffolk (postcodes IP1-IP33)

- Coventry and Warwickshire (postcodes CV1-CV13, CV21-CV23, CV31-CV37 and CV47)

- Northamptonshire (postcodes NN1-NN18, NN29)

- Leeds (postcodes LS1–LS29)

- Lancashire (postcodes BB1–BB12, BD23, BL6-BL7, FY1– FY8, L37, L39, L40, LA1–LA6, OL12–OL13, PR1-PR9, WN6, WN8)

- Southampton and New Forest (postcodes SO14-SO19, SO30-SO31, SO41, SO45, BH23-BH25)

- Devon (postcodes DT7, EX1-EX23, EX31-EX39, PL1-PL35, TA21, TQ1-TQ14)

- Teesside (postcodes TS1-TS29)

- London borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Borough of Westminster (postcodes NW10, SW1W, SW1X, SW3, SW5-SW7, SW10, W2, W6, W8-W12, W14)

What funding is available?

We will be awarding £60,000 in total in each of the above areas. The minimum grant available will be £5,000, and the maximum is £15,000. We expect that we will support around 5 projects in each area.

What additional support is available?

Successful applicants are expected to have sufficient resource and experience to deliver their project, as set out in their application form. However, grantees will be able to request up to 4 days of support from an experienced peer to find solutions to issues that may arise.

A communications toolkit will be distributed to funded projects to help them promote their activity and create meaningful case studies that demonstrate the impact of their work.

In addition, regional meetings will be held where grant-funded projects can come together, share learning and best practice.

Outcomes and outputs

We expect applicants to demonstrate how the activities they deliver bring about the changes described in outcome 1 of the Peer Support Programme:

People who access peer support have improved mental health, greater social capital, and greater levels of empowerment

As an indication, we expect a grant of £12,000 to achieve the following:

- 25 new people will access peer support

- At least 72% of these people will feel better able to manage their mental health

We recognise that work within some marginalised communities may be more complex and, consequently, projects working within these communities may reach a lower number of people. This will be taken into consideration during assessment.

To date, Mind’s literature review has identified the following principles as the key principles needed for successful peer support. We will be exploring these principles further throughout the programme. When assessing applications to this fund we will be considering how proposed projects demonstrate their commitment to these principles.

Principles for good quality peer support: / Description of principles / Example of how it operates within one to one peer support / Examples of how it operates within peer support groups
Safeguarding / There is a safe environment where people understand their role and accountability. / o Rigorous and robust recruitment
o Routine monitoring systems
o Ongoing supervision and support / o Group safeguarding policy
o Code of conduct for participants and clear complaints/conflict resolution procedure
o Access to independent help and support beyond group where needed
Peer Led / The setting is peer led and people with lived experience input into design, development and delivery. Their lived experienced is viewed as an asset. / Structures for influencing for people with lived experience. Recruitment of staff members and volunteers with lived experience. Evaluation tools are developed in collaboration with people who have direct experience of mental health problems. / Structures for influencing for people with lived experience. Recruitment of staff members and volunteers with lived experience. Evaluation tools are developed in collaboration with people who have direct experience of mental health problems.
Valuing skills needed / The skills and qualities to facilitate and coordinate effective peer support are valued and developed. Eg. There’s training and supervision. / One to one relationship skills. Training and supervision for those staff and volunteers who are leaders/ mentors/ coordinators. / Having group facilitation skills. Training and supervision for those staff and volunteers who are leaders and coordinators.
Mutuality / There is a mutual sharing of experience and of goals. Everyone, including the coordinator is able to benefit from both giving and receiving support based on contribution of own experience / Training in active listening. Leaders and coordinators have awareness of their own journey. / Training in active listening. Identification of different roles/contributions people can make to group based on different skills, strengths etc. Recognition that everyone has a role to play and clear structures to facilitate effective exchange of experiences and interaction. There is progression and rotation between roles.
Hope / There is a focus on moving towards a future and positive
experiences are shared / Individual goal setting and planning
Focus on setting objectives beyond
initial/immediate wants/needs and identifying individual strengths to draw on/develop / Strengths asset based approach focused on identifying collective strengths/assets to draw on in effecting change/positive progression
for all wherever at with their individual recovery.
Empowerment/ autonomy / People are supported to have a voice and to make decisions for own future. / Users briefed on and understand relationship from the outset. Parameters set so that relationship is not about doing things for people but about supporting and encouraging people to navigate the system and challenge it for themselves. / Recruiting leaders and coordinators with the potential to coach others to navigate the mental health system for themselves and to speak out about their needs in other aspects of their lives. Ongoing training and development for leaders/coordinators. Strong facilitation skills to ensure all have a voice.
Relationships/ connectedness / People respect one another and strong relationships based on trust are built that allow people to be honest to themselves. / Recruitment of leaders and coordinators with the ability to support active listening, to develop trust, with strong interpersonal skills and who are friendly and open. Leaders/coordinators with clear understanding of role and boundaries. Clear understanding of confidentiality and the limits to this. Training and supervision to develop all of these. / Recruitment of leaders and coordinators with the ability to support active listening, to develop trust, with strong interpersonal skills and who are friendly and open. Leaders and coordinators with clear understanding of role and boundaries. Clear understanding of confidentiality and the limits to this. Training and supervision to develop all of these. Activities to take place which support connectedness to take place.
Social skills / People have the opportunity to build these and to experience friendship (and therefore have increased social capital) / Identify relevant opportunities for people to connect with their community providing support to build self-esteem and confidence to partake in group activities / Providing relevant opportunities for people to connect with their community and to undertake social activities together, provide route to participation in activities beyond immediate confines of group to expand networks and ongoing opportunities for peer support beyond immediate wants and needs.
Solidarity/ reduction of stigma / Recognition of the value of working together and of the shared challenges of having a mental health problem, building on the value of social / Recruitment of leaders / coordinators with an understanding of discrimination that people experience within the mental health system and within society. Also with the skills to support people to ask for what they need, to be more open / Recruitment of leaders / coordinators with an understanding of discrimination that people experience within the mental health system and within society. Also with the skills to support people to ask for what they need, to be more open about their experience and to challenge prejudice. Training and supervision to develop these.

Examples of types of activity we are seeking to fund

Mind piloted a small grants programme in 2014 to support Peer Support activity throughout England. Some of the projects funded:

- After seeing an interest from different BME communities in their area, Leeds Mind were funded to co-produce culturally relevant peer services in different community languages. This allowed them to provide training and support to develop community leaders, and establish new peer support groups for different communities, reaching people that were not previously participating in peer support activities.

- Refugee Radio was funded to train existing members of its peer support group in order to provide new skills. This skills enabled them to devise and deliver workshops to support other people and help overcome stigma whilst raising awareness of mental health issues in their community, especially around the prevalence of PTSD amongst survivors of war and torture. This then led to more people accessing their peer support activities.

Who can apply for a peer support grant?

You can apply to the Peer Support grants fund if:

You are a not-for-profit constituted group or organisation that is one of the following:

 Formally constituted voluntary or community group

 Charity

 Co-operative

 Industrial and Provident Society

 Community interest company

You are a partnership with one member who is a not-for-profit constituted group or organisation (as above) which will act as the lead organisation to administer and manage the finances. We are keen that partnerships include those from outside the mental health arena to encourage engagement with wider networks and groups of people.

Partnerships

Partnerships must include one member that is a not-for-profit constituted group or organisation acting as the lead organisation. It should also include organisations and groups that can bring real benefit and will strengthen the project, for example through networks, expertise and/or support. All partners should ideally be involved in the development of the project and their involvement should be clearly mapped from the beginning and throughout delivery.