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Status
Received: 1 days late
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Income
£1.8M
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Spending
£1.7M
Public benefits
The organisation is established for the purpose of relieving need and improving health amongst those affected by depression and related mental illnesses, as well as their carers, in the particular ways which are outlined in the purposes. The direct benefits which flow from the purpose include a raised awareness of mental health and depression, the
provision of support, advice and resources required in dealing with such illnesses, improvements in public education around the nature and scale of depression leading to more ready identification of its signs and impacts, reductions in the stigmatisation of, and barriers to, the sufferers of such mental illnesses and wider improvements in the area of depression and mental health amongst statutory agencies, other organisations and at governmental level. These benefits can be demonstrated or evidenced by; ? Last year we helped over 3721 people through our depression Support Groups. External independent evaluations have been carried out for this service and results are resoundingly positive. ? We answered 1565 calls to our listening ear helpline service for people with depression, their carers and families. This is increasing in popularity as more people feel empowered to make a connection and talk about their depression. An external evaluation was completed on this service that demonstrated people got benefit from using it. ? We also delivered programmes to people with depression including our Living Life to The Full programme to 770 people – the feedback on this programme has been hugely positive and an RCT has been completed to show effectiveness in the treatment of depression ? We delivered our Mood Matters programme to 7,100 young people in schools across NI and they have told us that this programme has helped their understanding of mood, depression, stress and anxiety and has provided them with tools to help themselves and others. External independent evaluation has been carried out for this service and results are resoundingly positive. ? All our programmes are evidence based and many are supported in the National Institute of Clinical Excellence Guidance on the Treatment and Management of Depression in Adults ? Those who come into contact with our services are routinely asked for feedback, we have also gathered case studies that we use to promote our services to others and these are hugely reassuring of our impact. ? We won the GSK Impact Award in 2014 for our service delivery, run in partnership with the King’s Fund, this prestigious award is seen as a mark of achievement in the healthcare charity sector and measured the impact of all our services on the end user. People with depression or bipolar disorder are a vulnerable client group to work with given the nature of mental illness. We are very risk aware when working with vulnerable people and very occasionally people can become distressed when attending our services – when this does happen we have risk management processes in place and we feel that although a person may become distressed that the benefit they receive from attendance far outweighs this when the situation is handled with sensitivity and care. Aware Defeat Depression do not charge the end user for their services. Aware Defeat Depression employ personnel to deliver their services, this is essential, as the employees help deliver the service and without them we would not be in a position to meet our Charity Objects and are thus incidental in achieving the benefit. We employ sessional staff also to ensure that we are reaching out to many more people and again this is an essential part of our service delivery and incidental in achieving the benefit.
... [more] [less]What your organisation does
We are the only mental health charity in N.I. that deals exclusively with depression. We deliver services to people with depression, bipolar disorder and their carers, including support groups, information literature, a listening ear service and access to our programmes which promote the relief of depression, bipolar and other mood disorders. We
also use information to educate the public about depression in order to increase understanding and remove the stigma associated with the illness. We deliver programmes that reduce the risk of people becoming depressed and deliver these programmes into communities, schools and other settings. We also carry out research into depression and use the evidence produced to improve our services. We support families, carers and friends of those with depression through our services and information. Depression currently affects one in four of us in Northern Ireland. As depression is implicated in 75% of suicides and is an illness which gets worse if not diagnosed and treated promptly, our aim is primarily to save lives and then to create a society where no-one feels too ashamed to ask for help with their depression and where those with depression can find the help they need to get better, without having to wait to see a specialist. We also want to see good mental health promoted as a matter of course to everyone as a basic human right. Our current services comprise • Self-help support groups • Helpline • Living Life to the Full workshops • Mood Matters depression awareness training • Public Information/Community Outreach programme, including Hope4HealthRoadshows • Comprehensive range of free information titles and publications on depression • Volunteer recruitment and training • Fundraising
... [more] [less]The charity’s classifications
- The advancement of health or the saving of lives
- The relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage
Who the charity helps
- Carers
- General public
- Mental health
- Older people
- Parents
- Specific areas of deprivation
- Travellers
- Unemployed/low income
- Voluntary and community sector
- Volunteers
- Youth (14-25 year olds)
How the charity works
- Community development
- Disability
- Education/training
- Medical/health/sickness
- Research/evaluation
- Volunteer development
