We would like to strengthen our board of trustees. We intend making up to four appointments, which will increase our number to twelve. We are seeking trustees able not only to contribute to board but to undertake commitments outside of full board meetings, such as sub-committee attendance. We welcome applications from all backgrounds, regardless of quantity of experience at board level, to support the board’s drive for quality, inclusive decision making, problem solving and creativity. We want to make our board more inclusive and representative of the Calderdale population; we reflect our population’s diversity in gender, sexual orientation, disability and age, but not ethnicity or religion, noting that 8% of Calderdale is of Pakistani and Muslim heritage. Our existing board has a good range of expertise including local knowledge, experience of mental health and wellbeing issues, finance, governance, commissioning, contracting, diversity and inclusion, human resources management and development, and mental health service delivery. We are keen to add depth to this expertise, and add breadth.
 
We believe that by becoming a trustee of Healthy Minds, you have the opportunity to help us continue to support the mental health and wellbeing of the people of Calderdale, and your experience, insights and expertise will help us to improve that support even more. We will work with you to provide induction, training and support, as you take up this exciting role. You will have the opportunity to build your experience and skills through your time as a trustee. We appreciate your time in looking through this application pack, and welcome, should you wish to do so, your application. We particularly welcome applications from those who will help the board reflect the diversity of Calderdale’s population and add to the board’s expertise.
 
Completed Trustee Application Form (section 4) and Declaration of Eligibility (section 5) should be sent, by 7th February 2022 to Paul Hunt, Chair of Trustees:
 
Email (preferred):  paul@healthmindscalderdale.co.uk
 
Post (alternative): FAO Paul Hunt, Chair of Trustees, Heathy Minds, 1 King Street, Halifax, HX1 1SR
 
Shortlisted candidates will be invited for interview. Interviews are scheduled for 22nd and 23rd February 2022 (online or face-to-face, to be confirmed and subject to Government guidelines).
 
- Paul Hunt
 Chair of Trustees, Healthy Minds

Happy New Year to all from Healthy Minds. 

We’re entering 2022 with new programmes across many of our services and some new developments that will increase emotional health and wellbeing support for more people in Calderdale. 

There is understandably a lot of concern about the continued impact of Covid and the Omicron variant. I want to set out how Healthy Minds is dealing with this so that everyone can make choices with the right information. 

We plan to continue to offer a mixture of online, telephone and in-person activities. If you are already on contact lists for groups and activities, workers will ensure that you are kept informed and details of all activities can be found on our website. 

In-person / face-to-face activities will carry on where possible. We will do everything we can to ensure everyone’s safety: all activities have a current risk assessment that considers the space available, suitable ventilation, numbers attending and suitable precautions like distancing and sanitisation. We will keep registers of who has attended group activities. Staff will be taking lateral flow tests (LFT) prior to activities.  
Please help us to keep activities safe for everyone. If you are attending any in-person group activities: 

• Take a lateral flow test beforehand – if your test is positive, please do not attend the group and notify the group organiser; 
• If you feel ill, or have any symptoms associated with Covid, please do not attend the group even if you have a negative LFT result.  
• For indoor settings, you may be asked to wear a face-covering / mask – please do, if you can. 
• Please respect and follow any other measures as instructed by the group facilitator.

Healthy Minds strongly encourages vaccination. The precautions we are taking aim to protect everyone, vaccinated or not. 

Covid infections, particularly with the Omicron variant, are rising in the population and we already have higher than usual staff absence.  It is likely that some activities will be affected and plans may have to change at short notice. We will make our best efforts to notify people if this happens. If some regular activities like support groups have to be paused, we will do our best to offer you alternative groups or activities in the meantime so that you still have support. 

By working together and everyone doing their bit to look after ourselves and others, we hope that we can carry on with everything as planned, safely and responsibly. 

- Jonny Richardson-Glenn, Chief Officer