Trusts and Foundations responded to the Covid-19 pandemic with an increase in agility, speed and support for funded partners. It was required and was the right thing to do. But did we miss a trick? Did we consider the impact of Covid-19 on the mental health of front-line grassroots organisations, and do we know enough about how they are doing now?
People’s Health Trust is trying to address this and we are are keen to connect with other funders who are also interested in doing so.
Talking to grassroots organisations
From March 2020 to February 2022, People’s Health Trust undertook four surveys with our funded organisations, and a fifth survey which included partners of Locality, Inspiring Scotland and Building Communities Trust (Wales). We also supported weekly and then bi-weekly ‘meet ups’ for groups and some specifically facilitated mental health sessions.
We wanted to understand how local organisations supporting people experiencing disadvantage were handling the crisis and what we could do help. We published a series of reports over the two years, with our final report published in June 2022.
What emerged was a picture of rapidly declining mental health within the communities these organisations served. 97% of organisations were responding to mental health, whether or not it was their mission. Critically, Voluntary and Community Sector (VCS) workers’ mental health was also shown to be a very serious emerging issue.
Our surveys showed that during these times of extreme uncertainty, people turned to their locally trusted organisations. Consequently, the work of those organisations soared. Organisations with no prior experience were supporting people through extreme financial crises, sickness, bereavement, planning funerals, food destitution and extreme social isolation.
By April 2021, 97% of VCS organisations indicated that mental health was the number-one challenge ahead. 44% of respondents were concerned about their own or colleagues’ mental health and the risk of burnout. By February 2022, a staggering 82% of VCS project leaders were concerned about staff burnout in the next six-months, double the rate from November 2021. This suggested a very real problem, focused on increased workloads, intensive community support, supporting people in trauma and feeling overly-responsible for the wellbeing of those they worked with:
“I've heard people die on the phone, I watched two volunteers die from heart attacks because they worked so hard during the pandemic. I had a breakdown in October of last year, I didn't think I would come back from it, I will never recover from what has happened over the last two years… there's zero support out there for the third sector.”
The issues
The reasons local people were turning to the voluntary sector for mental health support were remarkably similar: mental health services were very difficult to access or had been withdrawn altogether, as well as concerns around the cultural sensitivity of mental health services.
Lack of knowledge and training of VCS workers about mental health was consistently cited as a problem. Almost a third of the VCS organisations had received no formal training. Around half had received some training but felt the volume and complexity made it hard for them to cope personally.
We would now like to talk to other Trusts and Foundations about this work, whether it is to understand what you are doing or to consider joint working.
What grassroots organisations said they wanted
With a worsening crisis, 92% of VCS workers asked for greater levels of support with their mental health through:
- training – to help set boundaries so that their own mental health is not damaged
- support – mental health leadership training within their organisations
- awareness about providing culturally sensitive mental health support
- provision of appropriate and accessible mental health services with clearer referral routes.
There is a strong case for supporting grassroots VCS organisations through this mental health crisis. The moral case should need no justification – workers who supported tens of thousands of local people through crises, who stayed open and who said they felt “invisible” now require our support to stay mentally healthy and to recover.
There is a wider service argument too. High levels of sickness within the VCS sector could close services and increase pressure on already stretched statutory services to solve the causes of mental health crises - causes that they are not equipped to support.
The role for funders
We think that there is a strong role for funders in this work. In our report we call for funders of grassroots VCS organisations to consider funding co-ordinated mental health capacity building and support, enabling leaders and workers to receive the support, training and knowledge needed to safeguard their mental health and help the communities they serve.
We would now like to talk to other Trusts and Foundations about this work, whether it is to understand what you are doing or to consider joint working. We are seeking to collate and share examples of good practice and/or convene a discussion of funders who may be keen to rapidly develop and implement an approach in the months ahead.
Please get in touch for more information or to register your interest in discussing this emerging collaboration opportunity.
Connect and collaborate
View this collaboration opportunity listing on the Funders Collaborative Hub.
