Chasing the Stigma

Chasing the Stigma is a national mental health charity with big ambitions; to reduce suicide, to eradicate stigma and to enable everyone in the country to be able to access clear pathways to mental health care.

Founded on lived experience, we want to do things differently, with a new and authentic approach to mental health. We aim to humanise and normalise mental health, actively challenge the stigma associated with mental illness and remove the barriers that prevent people from seeking help through our Hub of Hope.

How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?

According to ONS figures, almost three quarters of those who die by suicide each year are not known to mental health services or have not been seen within a year previous to their death. Quite simply, people are dying without accessing the help or support they so desperately need.

Clear and obvious pathways to care are virtually non-existent or not fit for purpose. This simply cannot continue.

We have developed the Hub of Hope (hubofhope.co.uk), the nation’s biggest and most comprehensive mental health database of its kind, to revolutionise the way the general public can access effective pathways to care. Making help and support a click away.

What are your current priorities?

Our vision is to make help as easy as possible to find by making the Hub of Hope the nation’s go-to mental health signposting tool, collaborating with partners across all sectors to establish a consistent and inclusive message around mental health signposting. Alongside this, we are creating true environments of understanding across the UK via our own Ambassador of Hope training programme.

What challenges are you currently facing?

Since its inception in 2016, the Hub of Hope has grown from a simple spreadsheet of local services, to become the nation’s go-to mental health support signposting service, with more than 2,000 services registered.

However, as a registered charity we rely on support from our partners, funders and from public donations to continue our training services and ensure that the Hub of Hope remains free to access and free for charities and organisations to register.

We want to grow together, working collaboratively with as many partners as possible to help save lives across the country.