Housing association confirms partnership with local Mind charities

Local housing association Aster has selected Wiltshire Mind and Mind’s Somerset, Andover and Dorset branches as its annual charity partners.  

Aster has also pledged to match-fund any money raised by employees for the charities over the next 12 months.

Mind is a national charity which offers help and advice to anyone experiencing mental health issues and campaigns to improve access to treatment across the UK. In 2020 and 2021, over 20,000 people used Mind’s online support forum, its mental health information pack was accessed nearly 21 million times and the charity responded to more than 118,000 queries from members of the public.

Each year, Aster asks employees to vote on who the organisation’s charity partner will be. Last year, colleagues chose Dementia UK and raised £20,000 for the charity.

Paul Mills, CEO of Wiltshire Mind said: “Every year across Wiltshire, we support people with their mental health by providing counselling, peer support and training. Our charity is delighted that Aster Group has selected us as their local partner. The Aster Foundation’s own wellbeing and resilience programme demonstrates how well they understand the mental health need in our county. We are very grateful for the support, which will go directly to delivering support locally to the community”.

Victoria Poole, Mind in Somerset’s funding manager said: “We’re incredibly grateful to be chosen as Asters charity of the year. As a local charity, we rely on donations from companies like this to be able to continue to offer our 57 services for free across Somerset. We are very excited to be working together and look forward to the years fundraising”

Dorset Mind CEO, Linda O’Sullivan said, “We’re delighted to build upon our relationship with Aster. We’ve worked with them for several years, delivering training and support that helped their staff through the pandemic. We’re grateful staff have chosen to fundraise for us in return. Donations are even more critical in the cost-of-living crisis as is the mental health and wellbeing of employers and employees alike. Thank you Aster!”

Cam Kinsella, director of the housing association’s registered charity – the Aster Foundation – said: “Mind is an incredible charity that provides vital support to thousands of people. I can think of no more important a time to be supporting them as people across the country struggle with the cost-of-living crisis and the lasting impact that financial stress can have on mental health.

“The Aster Foundation has its own mental wellness and resilience programme, which provides education and training to around 2,000 people a year. This means we understand how crucial mental health support is, and how invaluable Mind’s services are.”

The Aster Foundation has pledged to help at least 20,000 people improve their mental health and wellness by 2030.