Lamp

Lamp Lamp is a mental health charity. We support people in mental distress and their carers to make informed choices about their care and treatment.

We provide information on mental health services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland. A specialist mental health charity, founded in 1989, with experience advocating for service users in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland.

Laughter is not just a feel good extra, there is strong evidence that it supports mental health in measurable ways.Clini...
05/02/2026

Laughter is not just a feel good extra, there is strong evidence that it supports mental health in measurable ways.

Clinical studies show that laughter can reduce cortisol, the body’s main stress hormone, by up to 30%. High cortisol is closely linked to anxiety, low mood and emotional exhaustion, particularly during prolonged stress.

Research published in Behaviour Research and Therapy found that structured laughter based interventions reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety by around 20 to 25%. The impact was strongest when laughter happened in group settings rather than alone.

Social laughter matters. Research led by the University of Oxford found that people who laugh together report stronger social bonds, with laughter increasing pain tolerance by up to 10%. In psychology, pain tolerance is often used as a proxy for endorphin release, which plays a key role in mood regulation and resilience.

There are physical effects too. Studies show that laughter increases endorphins and dopamine, chemicals linked to pleasure, motivation and connection. The relaxation response that follows a good laugh can last between 30 and 45 minutes, helping the nervous system reset and reducing stress beyond the moment itself.

This is why events like the Leicester Comedy Festival matter.

They are not just nights out. They are shared experiences that reduce stress, strengthen connection and offer a genuine mental break for people who may be carrying far more than they show.

In a city where demand for mental health support continues to rise, we should not underestimate the protective role of joy, culture and community.

What shows are you seeing at this year’s festival?


Thinking about doing something unforgettable in 2026?🪂 Jump out of a plane for mental health advocacy.In 2026, we are in...
05/02/2026

Thinking about doing something unforgettable in 2026?

🪂 Jump out of a plane for mental health advocacy.

In 2026, we are inviting people to take on a skydive for Lamp.

The deal is simple.
💰 Raise £500.
💰 Pay just £50 for your jump.

Your £500 will help fund mental health advocacy and support for people across our communities who are struggling, often at the point they do not know where else to turn.

A skydive is not just about the adrenaline. It is about showing up for people who need someone in their corner. It is about turning one brave moment into real, practical support.

You do not need to be a thrill seeker. You just need to care.

If jumping from 13,000 feet is your way of giving back in 2026, we would love to have you involved.

Email Fundraising@LampDirect.org.uk for details on how it works.

Good luck to everyone at The Big Difference Company and Leicester Comedy Festival as another brilliant festival gets und...
04/02/2026

Good luck to everyone at The Big Difference Company and Leicester Comedy Festival as another brilliant festival gets underway.

Comedy brings people together, gives us space to breathe and reminds us how powerful laughter can be. But we also know that sometimes the loudest laughter can hide the heaviest weight.

That is why this festival matters, not just for the joy it brings to the city, but for the conversations it opens and the moments of connection it creates.

From all of us at Lamp, we are to stand alongside work that celebrates humour, creativity and community, while recognising that support matters too.

When the loudest laughter hides the heaviest weight, we are here.

Wishing everyone involved a fantastic festival.

This case is devastating and it is painfully familiar to those of us working in mental health advocacy.The inquest into ...
03/02/2026

This case is devastating and it is painfully familiar to those of us working in mental health advocacy.

The inquest into the death of EllaMae Ford-Dunn found that a lack of available mental health beds contributed to her death. She was a young woman in crisis, repeatedly assessed as needing inpatient care, yet no bed could be found. She died whilst waiting for the help professionals agreed she needed. The coroner was clear that systemic failures were a contributing factor, not an unfortunate anomaly.

For Lamp advocates, this is not shocking. It is the extreme end of what people tell us every day.

We regularly support people who are acutely unwell, suicidal, frightened, and asking for help, only to be told there is nothing available. They are assessed, reassessed, referred, escalated, and then sent home because there is no bed, no space, no capacity. Families are told to “keep an eye on them”. Individuals are given crisis numbers and discharged back into the very environments that are contributing to their distress.

What the inquest exposed is not just a shortage of beds, but a system that has normalised risk. People are deemed “safe enough” not because they are safe, but because there is nowhere else for them to go. The threshold for admission has crept so high that being seriously unwell is no longer enough. You have to be unwell and lucky.

Advocates see the consequences of this every day, people who deteriorate while waiting. People who disengage because asking for help becomes exhausting and humiliating. People who are told they are not ill enough, until suddenly they are far too ill.

The language used in services often hides what is really happening. “No bed available” sounds neutral. In reality, it means a clinical decision has been overridden by capacity. It means risk is being held by individuals, families, GPs, police officers, and charities instead of by a properly resourced health system.

The inquest matters because it names this. It puts into the public record what families and frontline workers have been saying for years. This was not just a personal tragedy, It was a foreseeable outcome of long term underinvestment, bed closures, rising thresholds, and a crisis response that relies on luck rather than care.

Lamp’s role is not clinical, but we are often the last consistent support people have when systems step back. Advocacy exists precisely because people are falling through gaps, but advocacy cannot replace inpatient care. It cannot replace beds, staff, and timely treatment.

If we keep treating these deaths as isolated incidents, nothing will change. The reality is harder to face, the system is stretched to the point where preventable harm is no longer rare.

EllaMae Ford-Dunn deserved timely care. So do the thousands of people currently waiting, assessed as high risk, and told there is nothing available.

Until capacity matches need, this will happen again.

This week we have been reading new UK research into dementia and mental health wards and some of the findings are hard t...
02/02/2026

This week we have been reading new UK research into dementia and mental health wards and some of the findings are hard to ignore.

People living with dementia admitted to mental health wards stay for an average of around 100 days, and most will not return home after discharge. These admissions usually happen at a point of acute crisis, when needs have escalated and families are already exhausted.

Despite this, the research shows carers are often excluded from decisions about treatment and discharge, receive fragmented information, and are rarely offered emotional or practical support. This is happening even though strong evidence shows that involving carers leads to better outcomes, including improved symptom management, fewer relapses, and reduced readmissions.

Carers hold vital knowledge about routines, communication, history and triggers, especially when someone can no longer advocate for themselves. Yet many describe feeling like outsiders on the ward rather than partners in care. The impact on carer wellbeing is significant, with increased stress, exhaustion and depression reported during admissions.

At Lamp, this reflects what we see every day. Mental health support works best when carers are recognised as part of the care system, not an optional extra.

Good care is not just about clinical intervention. It is about listening, communication, trust and supporting the whole network around a person.
If we want better outcomes in mental health and dementia care, we need systems that work with carers, not around them.

f you are struggling and feeling stuck, unheard or overwhelmed, Lamp is here to help. You do not need to be in crisis to reach out.
📧 Advice@LampDirect.org.uk
📞 0116 255 6286

📒 Source:
Wolverson E et al. (2026). Family interventions in dementia mental health environments (FIND ME): a mixed-methods protocol.

Lamp

£18 is the cost of a takeaway or a couple of coffees. But for someone struggling with their mental health, it can be the...
02/02/2026

£18 is the cost of a takeaway or a couple of coffees. But for someone struggling with their mental health, it can be the difference between facing things alone and being heard.

At Lamp, £18 funds an information and advice contact. One conversation. One moment of support. One person feeling less overwhelmed.

Mental health support does not always look big or dramatic. Often it starts with someone listening and standing alongside you.

If you can spare £18 today, you can help change a life.

Donate now: https://www.justgiving.com/charity/lamp

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate Lamp for a Blaby District Council Community Aw...
30/01/2026

We want to say a huge thank you to everyone who took the time to nominate Lamp for a Blaby District Council Community Award.

Being nominated means a great deal to our team. It tells us that our work is being seen, valued and felt within the community, and that matters more than any certificate or trophy.

Every day we support people who are struggling with their mental health, often at points where they feel unheard or stuck. To know that our work has made enough of a difference for someone to put our name forward is incredibly humbling.

Thank you for the trust, the support and the recognition. We are proud to stand alongside so many brilliant community organisations and volunteers making a real difference locally.

Poverty is not just about money. It is one of the biggest drivers of poor mental health in the UK right now.The latest U...
29/01/2026

Poverty is not just about money. It is one of the biggest drivers of poor mental health in the UK right now.

The latest UK Poverty 2026 report shows that people on the lowest incomes are far more likely to experience poor mental health than they were a decade ago. Feelings of anxiety, exhaustion, low mood, sleep problems and a sense of achieving less in life have all increased, with the sharpest rises since 2019.

Young adults are being hit hardest. People aged 16 to 34 living in poverty are now much more likely to report poor health than ten years ago, challenging the idea that they will simply bounce back when things improve. Long term financial insecurity and constant stress leave lasting psychological scars.

Poverty creates an ongoing mental load. Worry about rent, food, energy bills and debt is not short term. It wears people down over time, worsening mental health and increasing the risk of crisis.

Mental health and poverty feed each other. Poor mental health makes it harder to work or cope, which deepens financial insecurity and further harms wellbeing.

If you are struggling and feeling stuck, unheard or overwhelmed, Lamp is here to help. You do not need to be in crisis to reach out.

📧 Advice@LampDirect.org.uk
📞 0116 255 6286

CharitySector

£18 is the cost of a takeaway. 🥡 But for someone struggling with their mental health, it can be the difference between f...
28/01/2026

£18 is the cost of a takeaway. 🥡

But for someone struggling with their mental health, it can be the difference between facing things alone and being heard.

At Lamp, £18 funds a persons first contact with our information and advice team.

🥡 One conversation.
🥡 One moment of support.
🥡 One person feeling less overwhelmed.

Mental health support does not always look big or dramatic. Often it starts with someone listening and standing alongside you.

If you can spare £18 today, you can help change a life.

Donate now: https://www.justgiving.com/charity/lamp

Mental health in rural communities is often invisible.The data says it should not be and at Lamp we agree.Around 1 in 4 ...
26/01/2026

Mental health in rural communities is often invisible.
The data says it should not be and at Lamp we agree.

Around 1 in 4 people in England will experience a mental health problem each year. But where you live still affects whether you get help.

In rural areas:

💡 Longer journeys to reach mental health services
💡 Patchier GP and community support
💡 Isolation, transport issues and digital barriers that stop people seeking help

At Lamp, we support people across villages and market towns in Leicestershire and Rutland who:

💡 Have waited months or years for support
💡 Are told they do not meet service thresholds
💡 Are asked to self-manage with little follow-up
💡 Struggle to attend appointments because services are too far away

Rural life can be beautiful.
It can also be isolating when you are unwell.

Mental health support must work where people actually live.

If you or someone you support needs help, get in touch. Advocacy should not depend on your postcode.

📧 Advice@lampdirect.org.uk
☎️ 0116 255 6286
🌐 www.lampdirect.org.uk

At Lamp, we are deeply concerned by recent comments from Alan Milburn about young people, mental health and work.We agre...
24/01/2026

At Lamp, we are deeply concerned by recent comments from Alan Milburn about young people, mental health and work.

We agree that good work can support mental health.
What we disagree with is the idea that anxiety and depression are simply “normal” experiences that should not be barriers to employment.

That does not reflect what we see every day.

Lamp supports people across Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland who want to work, study or train. Many have tried to stay in work while unwell. Many asked for help early. Many did everything the system asked of them.

What they face instead is a system that is fragmented, underfunded and hard to access.

Our casework shows:
💡 Long waits for mental health support
💡 Discharge from services with no follow on help
💡 Thresholds that exclude people who are clearly struggling
💡 Workplace support disappearing after mental health disclosure

This is not people opting out of work.
This is people being failed.

Anxiety and depression may be common, but they are not always mild, temporary or manageable without support.

With nearly one million young people now not in education, employment or training, this is not the moment for simplified narratives.

Better outcomes will not come from tougher rhetoric.
They come from early mental health support, funded community advocacy, real workplace adjustments, and language that recognises complexity.

At Lamp, we will continue to stand with people whose voices are too often missing from these debates.

Blue Monday is not real. Every January we see headlines declaring one specific day as the most depressing of the year. I...
19/01/2026

Blue Monday is not real.

Every January we see headlines declaring one specific day as the most depressing of the year. It sounds scientific. It sounds helpful, it is neither!.

Blue Monday was created as a marketing concept, not a clinical insight. A formula designed to sell holidays, products and quick fixes. Yet it has somehow become embedded in how we talk about mental health.

And that is the problem.

📅 Mental health does not work on a calendar.
📈 Distress does not peak neatly on one Monday.
🧯 Anxiety, depression and burnout do not disappear on Tuesday.

By focusing attention on a single day, we unintentionally minimise the reality faced by people who struggle every day of the year, It turns something complex and deeply personal into a soundbite. It risks sending the message that if you are not struggling on Blue Monday, you should be fine.

At LAMP, we see the opposite. We support people whose mental health challenges are ongoing, fluctuating and often invisible. People who need understanding, patience and access to real support, not awareness tied to a marketing hook.

If Blue Monday starts a conversation, that is fine, but the conversation cannot end there.
Mental health deserves more than a headline, more than a gimmick, more than one day.

If this post resonates, check in on someone today, tomorrow, and next week too or get in touch

💻 www.lampadvocacy.co.uk
📞 0116 2556286
📧 Advice@LampDirect.org.uk

Address

Universal House 1 Merus Court
Enderby
LE191RJ

Opening Hours

Monday 9:30am - 5pm
Tuesday 9:30am - 5pm
Wednesday 9:30am - 5pm
Thursday 9:30am - 5pm
Friday 9:30am - 5pm

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Our Story

Founded in 1989, Lamp has been a specialist in mental health charity, advocating for service users in Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland. Our aim is for you to feel valued, listened to and more able to cope and to be able to access the services and support your needs through:


  • Finding the right information

  • Knowing your rights

  • Understanding mental health