Anxious Minds

12/04/2026

Funding concerns are a major flashpoint:

The share of NHS spending allocated to mental health has fallen for the third consecutive year: from 9.0% in 2023/24, to 8.78% in 2024/25, 8.68% in 2025/26, and projected to drop to 8.4% in 2026/27.

This is despite mental health accounting for around 20% of the overall disease burden the NHS treats. Charities like Mind have described services as being “set up to fail,” with a real-terms increase of £140 million not enough to offset the declining proportion.

Waiting times performance remains mixed: As of early 2026, only about 78% of urgent and 81% of routine cases were treated within recommended time frames. Overall NHS elective waiting lists have improved slightly (down to around 7.25–7.3 million), but mental health-specific delays lag behind.

We're Mind, the mental health charity. We're here to make sure no one has to face a mental health problem alone.

12/04/2026

The cost of living crisis is hitting many people hard across the North East, and the Veteran and Community Kitchen in Wallsend has become a lifeline for those who need support most.

This life-changing project is feeding more people every day. In 2025 alone, we served over 18,000 hot meals through the kitchen at the Veteran Recovery College.

Over the winter months, pensioners were able to receive a hot meal for just £1, helping many stay warm and well during the toughest time of year. Our Veteran Breakfast Club was also free every Friday, providing hundreds of veterans with a warm meal, companionship, and vital support.

Today, this much-needed project is facing a serious funding challenge. Without continued support, services like these are at risk.

Please help us keep this vital project going. Every donation will make a real difference and help us continue feeding and supporting veterans, pensioners, and local people in need.

Please donate today.

https://anxiousminds.enthuse.com/cf/support-the-veteran-and-community-kitchen

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Army Benevolent Fund Veterans' Foundation

08/04/2026

It's a great chance to talk to the council about Valour

📣 Be part of our Armed Forces conversations 📣

We’re hosting community conversation sessions for veterans, serving personnel, and families. Sessions will take place across the county in April & May (all locations/dates below! 👇) and aim to find out about what you need from your community.

Anyone with a connection to the Armed Forces is welcome to come along and chat with us about your life, story and needs. You’ll answer some questions, meet our Safe & Resilient Communities team, and have your say.

Here are the sessions we have confirmed so far – more to come! 👇

🏅 Newbiggin Sports & Community Hub, Tuesday 14 April, 9.30am to 12.30pm
🏅 Hirst Pavilion (Hirst Park, Ashington), Thursday 23 April, 9am to 11am
🏅 Prudhoe Veterans Club, Saturday 25 April, 9.30am to 12.30pm
🏅 The Round House (Age UK Ashington), Monday 27 April, 9.30am to 12pm
🏅 Cramlington Community Hub, Wednesday 29 April, 9am to 12.30pm
🏅 Veterans Breakfast Club at Alnwick Community Hub, Thursday 30 April, 10am to 12pm
🏅 Newbiggin Sports & Community Hub, Thursday 7 May, 1.30pm to 4.30pm
🏅 Turks Head (Rothbury), Saturday 9 May, 10am to 11.30am
🏅 Amble Inn Breakfast Club, Saturday 16 May, 9am to 12pm
🏅 Cramlington Community Hub, Monday 18 May, 1pm to 4pm
🏅 Hirst Welfare Centre (Ashington), Wednesday 20 May, 9am to 12.30pm

02/04/2026

Happy Easter, everybody. Have a great weekend and stay safe.

30/03/2026

Is the Charity Sector in the North East slowly being left to die?

Across our region, charities are fighting to keep the lights on while demand for support keeps rising. The cost of living crisis, rising heating and energy bills, higher National Insurance costs, increases in the minimum wage and living wage, and a lack of long-term funding are pushing many organisations to the edge or closing. This is not mismanagement. This is a sector being squeezed from every direction.

We are already seeing the warning signs.

Scope shut shops including Bishop Auckland, and Washington .

Active Nation ceased trading after unsustainable deficits and soaring energy costs.

Mental health projects closing or reducing their services

New Light Art has had to sell work from its collection just to survive. These are not isolated problems. They are signs of a sector under relentless pressure.

And the biggest question is this: what will the cost be to government when charities disappear and the state has to step in to deliver the very services it failed to protect?

Charities are not a luxury. They are often the safety net before crisis, the support people turn to when statutory services are stretched beyond breaking point.

If government does not start backing the charity sector with proper, ongoing support, more services will be lost, more communities will suffer, and the eventual cost will be far greater.

The North East cannot afford to lose its charities. We need action, investment, and recognition now.

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30/03/2026

Read our 2025 Annual Report and see what amazing work Anxious Minds is doing to support the community.

Created with the Heyzine flipbook maker

30/03/2026

Every week now, I hope to produce a video talking about mental health within the veteran community and to talk about our services and the latest veterans' mental health news. Please follow us on YouTube by visiting the Anxious Minds channel.

28/03/2026

Some of the many national awards we have received for our healthcare and mental health work with veterans and their families in the North East are a reflection of something very simple: the life-changing support we provide every single day.

I want to explain why hundreds of veterans and their families come to Anxious Minds for help each year.

We do not need to tell people how good our services are, because those who use them do that for us. Read our feedback, speak to the people we support, or come and see the thousands of five-star reviews written by veterans and families whose lives have been changed by our work, please come and visit us and see for yourself.

Our mental health team was one of the first in the North East to achieve accreditation through the Quality Network for Veterans’ Mental Health Services three years ago. Every member of our clinical team is individually accredited by the BACP or NCPS, with more than 50 years of combined experience in mental health. Together, we have been delivering vital mental health services across the North East for more than 10 years.

Our support team includes accredited healthcare professionals with nursing experience, alongside veterans and partners of veterans who truly understand the challenges faced by the armed forces community.

Our Veteran Recovery Colleges are setting the standard for veteran care in the North East. As part of the NHS Recovery College Collective, we are not just providing support, we are changing lives and, in some cases, saving them.

But despite the demand, despite the outcomes, and despite the recognition, we remain massively underfunded for the number of veterans and families we are supporting. If proven services like ours are not properly funded and backed by those in positions of power, we risk losing something that the veteran community desperately needs. If Anxious Minds were forced to close, the impact on veterans and their families across the North East would be devastating.

This is my tenth year as the volunteer CEO of Anxious Minds. I have given everything I can, but I cannot do this alone. I need your support. Please help.
If you want better support for our veteran community, invest in the proven, high-quality services that are already in place and already making a difference.

Army Benevolent Fund North East and North Cumbria NHS The National Lottery Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Office for Veterans' Affairs Veterans' Foundation

27/03/2026

We provide low-cost counselling services for anybody 18 plus. Please contact us if you need support. Our services are based in North Tyneside and Blyth.

27/03/2026

Op Valour

We already have two large Veteran Recovery Colleges in the North East, both of which have won multiple awards for mental health and healthcare. They were also among the first services to achieve QNVMHS accreditation. Despite this, they remain underfunded while already supporting hundreds of veterans and their families.

Creating new centres risks making it even harder for established, high-quality services to secure the funding they need, which could ultimately affect the standard of support veterans receive. What veterans need is not more centres, but proper investment in the trusted, proven services that already exist.

Army Benevolent Fund Veterans' Foundation The National Lottery Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Office for Veterans' Affairs

23/03/2026

It is with the deepest regret that Anxious Minds must announce a reduction in its counselling services for veterans and their families due to a lack of funding.
Over the past year, our counselling service has provided vital support to more than 300 people from the veteran community, helping individuals and families facing significant mental health challenges. We know how important timely and accessible support is for those who have served, and this decision has not been made lightly.

Unfortunately, with only a limited budget available this year, we are no longer able to maintain the same level of counselling provision. This is a deeply disappointing situation for our charity, our staff, and most importantly for the veterans and families who rely on these services.

Despite this reduction, Anxious Minds remains committed to supporting the veteran community in every way possible. We will continue to help veterans and their families find alternative sources of support, provide guidance, and signpost people to other appropriate services wherever we can.

We understand the impact this news will have and share in the disappointment felt by those affected. Our commitment to the veteran community remains as strong as ever, and we will continue to fight for the funding needed to ensure those who have served our country can access the support they deserve.
For further information, please contact:
Anxious Minds

North East and North Cumbria NHS Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Army Benevolent Fund Veterans' Foundation

20/03/2026

Durham Veteran Recovery College
For the next couple of weeks, we will be running coffee mornings to talk with the local veteran community from across Durham and discuss how we can help them better at the Veteran Recovery College in Seaham.
Please come in to see us and let's talk about some of the amazing projects we already have running and how we can better support you.

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust Veterans' Foundation Army Benevolent Fund County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust Durham County Department of Public Health