1 in 4 people struggle with their mental health.
Our Work
Messages of Hope is a Community Interest Company encouraging people to write hopeful messages for those struggling with mental health. By working with members of the community and other community organisations we look to improve the infrastructure in place for patients going through recovery, provide support for the individual through group activities and raise awareness for the current issues around mental health through collaborative art projects. This is all done through our campaigns and events which are built around bringing people together through creative works.
All the work we do is to support the three goals that we have identified as an organisation. It's so sad that our organisation is needed, yet the work we do is more important than ever.
Our goals are to:
1.
Demonstrate the importance of community support in mental health. How many people feel alone?
2.
Bring mental health into the forefront of conversation alongside physical health.
3.
Provide direct support to those struggling with their mental health.
Whilst the goals of Messages of Hope are simple, they are at the heart of everything we do. From our own experiences in suffering from issues surrounding mental health, we have come to understand the importance of community in both recovery and prevention. This community could be as close as family or friends, or as wide as those with similar thoughts and feelings just in your area. By enabling an environment to allow a variety of people to come together in possibly a large creative project such as a video, or smaller arts and crafts, we strive to create a space in which people can share and feel like they've been heard. It also provides individuals with a chance to know that they are not alone.
Moving forward Messages of Hope would love to partner with more groups and organisations that to put on these events. All our campaigns and individual events exist to address our goals as well as providing key opportunities to help raise awareness.
Not-So-Fun Facts
1 in 5 people have suicidal thoughts.
Suicide is the biggest killer of men under 45 in the UK.
What Are We Doing About It?
Collaborative Art Projects
Messages of Hope collaborates with other community organisations to create videos for mental health awareness days throughout the year. These videos will involve members of the public sharing their messages of hope. We also work to create Line of Hope displays which provide a space in which people can reflect on their current head space and read messages of hope provided from those around them displayed on a line.
As an organisation we have done many pop-up art sessions where we've had people, write messages, colour their feelings, and draw on canvases. This again allows people to perform a well-being check-in, provides a nice creative outlet in the day, and gives the opportunity to talk and meet new people.
All of these activities are done the in form of events that Messages of Hope puts on throughout the year.
Bags of Hope
Bags of Hope is a project set up to provide patients arriving on psychiatric wards with a bag of both essential and self-care items. These bags contain items such as body wash, wipes, socks, underwear, colouring books, phone chargers, and activity books, all of which offer comfort and dignity to patients during a challenging time. The bags are delivered to local psychiatric wards across South Wales and England.
In 2024 alone, we received over 5000 donations and donated over 250 bags to psychiatric wards. One patient commented, 'Receiving a Bag of Hope when I was admitted to hospital gave me hope and reminded me that I wasn't alone.' We are in constant communication with psychiatric patients and staff to ensure that the items we are providing are useful and appropriate.
Moving into 2025, we are partnering with organisations for bag packing and bag decorating MOH socials.
Collecting Your Messages
Messages of Hope collects messages of hope and spreads them far and wide. Keep an eye on our social media pages to see if your message is shared. You can submit a message of hope via our website whenever you like. We will then post the submitted messages of hope on our social media, or your message might be turned into a sticker and placed in various spots around the local community.
Collecting these messages is part of our initial Messages of Hope campaign which started this organisation. You can often find us out in the community collecting messages from strangers. Not only do these messages help others but we give people the opportunity to perform a wellbeing check-in.
Write a message of hope for someone struggling with their mental health. Your message could be the one that makes a difference in someone's life.
Get Involved
Messages of Hope welcomes collaborations with other businesses, organisations, charities, projects, schools and communities. If you're interested in hosting a Messages of Hope event or would like to collaborate with us in any capacity we would love to hear from you.