Our Future in Todmorden and the Upper Valley

The first thing to say is that Healthy Minds remains committed to providing easy to access services so that everyone who needs it can get support for their emotional health and wellbeing. Thanks to Community Foundation for Calderdale, local communities and, of course, a tirelessly dedicated staff team, we have been offering services in and around Todmorden for five years, and in the Hebden area for over two years. We have good connections with local people and organisations, and we want to continue providing support in these areas – although with some necessary changes.

The charity sector has felt the consequences of the Covid pandemic, with more people needing the valuable support charities like Healthy Minds provide and funding having to stretch even further. Although we have tried to secure ongoing funding from many sources, we are now in the position that we do not have the resources to continue the Todmorden and Hebden services as they are. This means that both services will close at the end of June 2021.

From July, there will be a smaller team covering both areas. The Upper Calder Valley team will look to continue the support activities that are most needed by people in the area. For people who have been supported by the Todmorden / Hebden teams, we will try to make sure that support does not disappear, although some aspects of it might be different in the coming months – there may be staffing changes, for example. Healthy Minds has services that work across all of Calderdale and the Upper Calder Valley team will work with colleagues to make sure that we continue to support people in the right ways and places, listening to what people tell us.

Healthy Minds, like many other charities, is facing challenges this year that will mean changes in some of our existing services as the future becomes clearer – the Upper Calder Valley team is the first of these. As well as challenges, there are some exciting developments and opportunities coming up, bringing new services and ways in which we can support Calderdale’s communities.

Some of what we do will look a bit different but Healthy Minds is still here for the foreseeable future and, most of all, for the people of Calderdale.