Accreditation and Membership
Action in Mind holds the following accreditations – Disability Confident Committed (Department of Work and Pensions) and the Quality in Befriending Excellence (Befriending Networks). We are also a Scottish Living Wage Employer.
Scottish Mentoring Network Award
The Peer Mentoring for Mental Health Carers project, led by the Mental Health Foundation, in partnership with its delivery partners, Action in Mind and Glasgow Association for Mental Health received the Scottish Mentoring Network’s Quality Standard accreditation.
Left to Right: Iain MacDonald, Time & Space (Action in Mind) and Brian Gallagher, Re-connect (Glasgow Association for Mental Health).
Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland (COSCA)
The charity is a member of COSCA (Counselling and Psychotherapy in Scotland). Our trained and qualified counsellors are members of COSCA or BACP (British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists).
Our support staff are registered with the Scottish Social Care Council which is the regulatory body for raising standards in the social services workforce, and for regulating education and training in social care.
Action in Mind’s Working Together partnership award
Action in Mind created this award for organisations - charitable, public and private that have made a significant contribution through working with us on a specific project, service or single area of interest that has given benefit to those affected by mental health difficulties, their families and carers. The award was created in 2014.
2014: Planning Aid Scotland (PAS): This award was presented to Petra Biberbach, CEO of Planning Aid Scotland for the contribution of their volunteer advice line (chartered planners) in supporting a local mental health carer to resolve a planning matter that would enable their son to live independently in a converted building on their home ground.
Des Friel, Chair of Action in Mind with Petra Biberbach, CEO of Planning Aid Scotland (PAS)
2015: M&S Stirling: This award was presented to M&S, Stirling for supporting Action in Mind in various fundraising and mental health awareness raising initiatives within their local store. Action in Mind, with support of its staff, volunteers and service users actively participated in monthly bag packing events, talking to staff and customers about our work. We were very grateful for the opportunity to raise funds, but also the generous donations from M&S, Stirling and their customers.
During this year, Action in Mind set up in the memory of M&S Stirling’s employee, Andy Lawless the award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health, to recognise any individual or group, organisation or business that has made a significant contribution towards improving understanding of mental illness, stigma and discrimination
Pauline Monteith and Michael McCallum, M&S Stirling
2016: Stirling and District Citizens Advice Bureau: This awarded was presented to Craig Anderson, Bureau Manager in recognition of a long-standing working partnership with what was first, Stirling & District Association for Mental Health and following rebranding, Action in Mind.
Craig’s tenacity and commitment to mitigate against poverty and discrimination of mental health service users to secure funding to support the continuation of the money, benefits and advice service, first piloted in 1996 and established in 1999, was hugely applauded.
Craig Anderson, Bureau Manager, Stirling Citizens Advice Bureau
2017: Mental Health Foundation and Glasgow Association for Mental Health (GAMH):
This award was jointly presented to the Mental Health Foundation (Scotland) and Glasgow Association for Mental Health for the Peer Mentoring for Mental Health Carers funded by the Big Lottery.
2018: Karen Auld Associates: This award was presented to Karen Auld of Karen Auld Associates, who in a voluntary capacity created, developed and delivered, in partnership with Action in Mind, Realising Resilience and Mental Wellbeing, a new group approach for mental health service users.
Karen Auld
2019: The Kilted Kangaroo: This award was presented to The Kilted Kangaroo, who organised and ran multiple fundraising events to support Action in Mind, which also contributed to spreading the word about mental health among their staff and clientele.
2020: Wellbeing Circle: This award was presented to Siobhan Hencher of Wellbeing Circle, who for over a year now has been donating her time to provide our Peer Support Group service users with free, weekly yoga sessions. Even in the midst of the COVID pandemic, she created online resources for service users to access when classes couldn't continue face-to-face.
Action in Mind, Charity of the Year nominations
2013-2014: Awarded by Forth Valley College Student Association
Action in Mind was delighted to receive the nomination of Charity of the Year by Forth Valley College Student Association as mental health was considered to be an area of increasing concern by students and staff alike. A year long programme was developed to provide regular information sessions on campus, and to raise much wider awareness and support for community-based support. A number of activities were held, in particular, the popular ‘Wear a Hat’ day, which encouraged students and staff to design and make their own hats, improvise hats or just come wearing a hat. Wearing a hat was to show solidarity for people affected by mental health difficulties. Prizes were awarded for the best designed hats.
Wear a Hat day, Forth Valley College, Stirling Campus
A further activity, the Campus Chase, involved students and staff of the college, and our, Angie MacKenzie (Rural Outreach worker) to run the circumference of the new Stirling Campus and achieve their best personal time. Students from the college designed and make a unique award, the Golden Guttie, for the fastest, and second fastest, time run.
The Campus Chase – the Golden Guttie Award at Forth Valley College, Stirling Campus
2015-2016: Awarded by M&S Stirling
Action in Mind was delighted to be nominated by the M&S Stirling store as their charity of the year. Staff, volunteers and service users participated in monthly bag-packing events in the store which gave us good profile of the charity but also the opportunity to meet staff and customers and discuss our services and how we help local people, their families and carers.
An important outcome of this year was the creation of the Andy Lawless award, as described below, and the recipients of the award to date are given below.
“Changing Attitudes to Mental Health, The Andy Lawless Award“
Action in Mind introduced a joint award with M&S Stirling to the memory of Andy Lawless who was an employee of the company. With the support of Andy’s family, it was proposed that this award would be awarded to individuals or groups of colleagues or friends, or organisations that make a contribution to changing attitudes to mental health and reduce suicide.
2015: The inaugural Andy Lawless Award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health was presented to Neil Fraser and David Drysdale, colleagues and friends of Andy at M&S Stirling. Neil and David undertook a variety of challenging activities to raise funds for Action in Mind.
2016: The Andy Lawless Award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health was jointly presented to Eilidh Kettle, Erin McAuley and Terri Smith for their outstanding contribution at the Action in Mind Youth Aloud event, hosted by McLaren High School, on the occasion of the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon’s question and answer morning with two hundred high school pupils from across Stirlingshire. Their courage and personal testimonies of relating their individual experiences of mental ill-health and of how they sought to ensure that mental health did not define them but was nonetheless a part of their lives, was hugely applauded.
Erin McAuley and Eilidh Kettle
2017: No award
2018: The Andy Lawless Award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health was awarded to Mhari Riddell who planned and delivered (and continues) to organise fundraising events for Action in Mind. Her activities included local fundraising events in Callander (during World Mental Health Week) and Stirling, organising a concert featuring Jack Eye Joe and initiating discussion on Stirling City Radio on suicide awareness. Mhari’s contribution and enormous effort stems from her own personal experience of mental ill-health.
Mhari Riddell, awarded The Andy Lawless Award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health.
2019: The Andy Lawless Award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health was awarded to Graham Morgan, author and lived experience advocate for mental health, who raises awareness on the personal and professional impact of being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
2020: No award
2021: The Andy Lawless Award for Changing Attitudes to Mental Health was awarded to Jonny Allan of Goods & Greatness.co who donates a percentage of their sales profits to us. Jonny has also run fundraising events, with the proceeds being donated to Action in Mind.
2022: No award