Challenges

This has been a very difficult time for many and we know that it has been particularly difficult for people living with and affected by mental health issues.

In these unprecedented times, Action Mental Health has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic by completely rethinking and re-organising how we deliver our services to support our clients, we have taken our services online and offered virtual meet-ups and group interactions to maintain vital ongoing support. Thankfully we are now beginning the process of reopening our services for face to face support.

We have been at the forefront of partnerships working to pool resources to support as many people as possible via our online channels, to help the public understand and avail of the information and agencies providing help to cope with the mental health implications of COVID-19.

None of this has been easy and we are delighted that people are still donating and organising events to fundraise to support this ever increasing need.  However, like most charities our income from donations and fundraising has been severely impacted and we have lost some major opportunities to raise funds through the cancellation of many mass-participation events.

This all comes at a time when our services are needed more than ever.

To that end we are asking all our friends and supporters to put their thinking caps on and come up with innovative ways to raise money in this challenging climate.

The following guide offers you some tips and inspiration, but please feel free to be as creative as you wish while you are #TakingActionOnMentalHealth.

Fundraising remotely

Whether you’re getting creative in the kitchen, hosting virtual hang-outs with friends and family online, or getting fit with workouts at home, we’ve got lots of ideas for how you can raise funds to support people with mental health issues here in Northern Ireland.

Photography competition

Practice your photography skills and ask friends, family and colleagues to take part. Set a theme for each day and ask everyone to send their entries to you. Share all photos with the group and ask them to vote for their favourite. Ask anyone who enters to donate £5, £10 or £20 via your JustGiving page.

Learn a new skill!

Find out who has a secret skill by asking your friends, family or colleagues what their skills are, whether playing guitar, icing a cake, potting plants or crocheting. They could then teach others, by hosting a Zoom session (easy and free to download) to share their knowledge.  You can make a donation to learn a new skill.  This is a great way of benefitting from someone else’s talents and fundraising at the same time!

Who’s the baby?

Ask for baby photos from your friends, pop them up as a gallery on Facebook with a link to a JustGiving page, and ask friends and family to guess on the Facebook page, who’s the baby, and then make a donation online.  Give a deadline of 24 hours and then reveal who all the bonny babies are.

Virtual Quiz

You are the quiz master!  This is a simple and fun idea, with many pre-written questions and answers available online.  You can ask your friends to log in via Zoom and donate online to AMH as the entry fee, either via JustGiving or through the donate button on this website.  You can even theme the quiz on 80s actors, famous figures in history or a subject of your choice, and run a competition for the best fancy dress.

Remake your favourite movie scene

To make this fair and easy for all, use your tablet or camera phone to capture you and your household remaking your favourite movie scene, whether recreating the nuns singing ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’ from the Sound of Music, doing the twist in Pulp Fiction or singing to Bohemian Rhapsody from Wayne’s World.  All budding actors donate online and present their efforts via social media, with the victor announced online.

Choose your physical challenge

Will you do 50 jumping jacks; burpees or press ups a day for a month? Can you row the length of the English Channel? Or will you use the route of your local parkrun or local park to do a 5k every day for a week or a month.  Pick your activity and ask friends and family to sponsor you to keep it up! You can factor in rest days too!

To help you fundraise

The easiest way to fundraise is to set up a JustGiving page. Just visit wwwjustgiving.com and choose Action Mental Health, and because this is a personal or private group challenge please choose:

• ‘Doing my own thing’ you will then be given very simple directions on how to set up a fundraising page.
• You can then share this page via all your social media channels to encourage friends, family or colleagues to donate to this virtual challenge.

Fundraising Advice

Please do review the information contained within this link. Though this was written before the current pandemic, much of the information about food hygiene, health and safety, and the power of social media is still relevant.  https://www.amh.org.uk/fundraising/advice/

Thank You!

Thank you for supporting us at this uncertain time.  We want as many good news and fun stories as possible to encourage others and to lift people’s spirits so please get in touch and we will support you with telling your story to others via social media.

Tel:  028 91 82 8494

Email: [email protected]

Make sure you stay safe throughout the challenges and you are adhering to the government’s social distancing guidelines at all times. Where