Funding has been made available by NHS England until March 2024 as part of the national Transforming Community Mental Health Programme.

Residents of Scarborough, Whitby and Ryedale who are living with serious mental health difficulties are being offered a helping hand – thanks to a new funding scheme.

Applications are now open for grants of up to £30,000 through the Access and Connect Fund, aimed at supporting people to live well in their communities and give them greater choice and control over their care.

The funding is being offered as part of the North Yorkshire and York Community Mental Health Programme, to encourage people with lived experience and local partners to develop improved access to local support.

Innovative ideas

Mark Hopley, from Community First Yorkshire and chair of Scarborough, Whitby, Ryedale Mental Health Partnership, said: “I anticipate that some innovative project ideas will come from smaller community organisations and larger mental health charities.

“We’re also hoping to receive some partnership funding bids to test out some new ideas about how to improve access to local support and services in both urban and rural areas.”

The fund is open for grant applications from local voluntary and community organisations, social enterprises, sole-traders, and lived experience initiatives. Two levels of grants are available:

• Large Grants of between £2,000 and £30,000 are available for established Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) sector organisations. Organisations are encouraged to work in partnership, both with each other and with smaller grass roots groups in their areas.
• Small Grants of between £500 and £2,000 are available for local grass roots groups, micro-enterprises, start-ups and for lived experience initiatives.

Learning through doing

Paddy Chandler, Stronger Communities Delivery Manager for Ryedale and North York Moors, said: “This opportunity is about encouraging applications that are exploratory, creative and transformational with an emphasis on learning through doing.

“What this means in practice is that applicants are encouraged to think, connect and act beyond their organisational boundaries as part of the local transformation.”

Good practice examples should illustrate how delivery of community transformation is having a positive impact for people with mental health needs – and can include testimonials from service users or carers.

Meeting community needs

Applications will be evaluated by representatives from Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust, Community First Yorkshire, and North Yorkshire County Council Stronger Communities.

David Kerr, Community Mental Health Transformation Programme and Delivery Lead for North Yorkshire and York, said: “Transformed services are co-created by communities to meet the needs of their community.

“These grants provide an opportunity to trial new ways of working including the development of new community mental health hubs and the services that support them.”

Access and Connect Grant deadline extension from 6 to 20 November 2022

Following the Scarborough Whitby and Ryedale Transforming Community Mental Health meeting on Tuesday 1 November it has been agreed to extend the grants submission deadline to Sunday 20 November at the request of local Voluntary and Community Sector partners represented in the session.

For more information or to request an application pack please contact Charlene Hoggard, Senior Project Support Administrator – Community Mental Health Transformation for North Yorkshire and York, charlene.hoggard@nhs.net or 07717806497. All completed applications should be submitted to tewv.transformationnyy@nhs.net by 23:59 hours on 20 November 2022.

More information about the grants and how to submit your application is available in this guide.

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