Minds for Health UK offers direct support to Antara through our Letter Exchange and Volunteer Programmes.

Letter Exchange

Why get involved?

The Letter Exchange is an ongoing programme which connects individual patients in Antara to correspondents in the UK.

The experience of mental illness can be isolating and lonely. We believe that simple human contact and friendship is a powerful way to offer support at some of the worst times of a person's life.

Minds for Health UK volunteers note how valued the programme is by patients who say that writing provides a means to voice what they otherwise feel unable to express. Participants at both sides seem to enjoy the opportunity to have a personal insight into a different culture and place and to follow the events of each others lives. In some cases enduring friendships have developed.

How it works

We have a national letter exchange coordinator who organises the collection of letters from the UK and distribution of letters from India - all you need is a postal address or e-mail.

Once you have applied we will link you to a correspondent in Antara.
You can write as often as you want, but at least once every two months.
Every two months our letter exchange coordinator sends all the letters and e-mails from UK participants to Antara where patients receive your messages (they are translated if need be).
Patients at Antara will write back though postage means there are sometimes delays and at other times your correspondent may not feel well enough to write. You should keep writing as its still read and appreciated!
You can keep writing as long as you want and if you feel unable to continue simply let us know. At times your correspondent may leave Antara.

Many will return for day-care so you can keep writing but on occassion we will ask you to write to a different person.

We also organise  one-off  'mass mailings' where you write to an anonymous patient at Antara on a special occassion (such as Bengali New Year). We hope to send a card to every patient on a ward at the time.

How you can get involved

Anyone is able to join the letter exchange, though you should note:

• If you are below 16 we will require the consent of your parent or guardian.

• The letter exchange represents a commitment of time and we look for people who are motivated, patient and understanding.

• You do not need to have experience of mental illness - empathy and a will to listen go a long way. However, in the past we have had several writers in the UK who have ongoing mental health problems and sometimes this brings a deeper understanding of the experiences of patients - we welcome individuals and organisations who want to make such a connection.

To take part, or for more information, please contact our Letter Exchange Coordinator - letters@mindsforhealth.org.uk

Volunteering

Every year we assist 15-20 volunteers to live and work with Antara for placements of six weeks or more.
We welcome applications from anyone over 18 years, however we especially welcome:

 •    Undergraduate and Graduate students of health, social work or psychology.
    •    Those already working in mental health or related fields.
    •    Those with research, administration or clinical skills (see research and cooperation)

Volunteers are an integral part of our ongoing support and development as an organisation. We expect volunteers:

    •    To offer direct support by involvement in therapy and care (as skills allow), being alongside patients, introducing new skills or programmes.
    •    To assist Minds for Health UK by gathering case-studies, writing reports or helping to develop proposals for funding priorities.
    •    To be involved in our general or local committees in the UK on their return.

To find out more about volunteering, please contact our volunteer coordinator Hannah Jones: volunteer@mindsforhealth.org.uk.

Costs

We charge an administration fee of £25 to cover costs of volunteer packs and CRB checks (see below). In addition to this we ask volunteers to raise a donation of £200, which will go directly towards current projects. Other than this, Minds for Health UK does not charge for volunteering, though we do require all volunteers to contribute time or skills in the UK before or after placements.

It is the responsibility of volunteers to meet other costs. Some example costs are:

We believe that placements should be accessible to people regardless of background so we'll work with you to raise other costs. You might think about:

• Paid work
• Applications to university or other grant-making bodies.
• Fundraising- some information about fundraising is available to download from the Resources section, here.

Applying

To apply for a volunteer placement, download our volunteer application form and return it, along with two references, by email to our volunteer coordinator - volunteer@mindsforhealth.org.uk or by post.

Alternatively you can find out about volunteering at our recruitment meetings in Leeds, Warwick and other universities.

Because we need to process applicants and prepare you for a placement we have the following deadlines for application;

Every applicant goes through the same selection process

We ask applicants to accept our final decision on your application and to remember that we have more applicants than placements so some may be disappointed.

Wherever possible we aim to assist people to placements and we encourage people to re-apply or, if circumstances change unforseeably, to consider holding over their placement to the next year. The exception to this will be failure to agree to any of the legal processes above or a rejection based on information from your CRB disclosure. In this case it is unlikely your re-application will be considered.

About CRB checks