Vote for WISH and Stand Together with Women with Complex Mental Health Issues

WISH is one of the charities competing in May’s charity pole in the hopes of winning 20% of the profits generated by My Favourite Voucher Codes. For 35 years, WISH has been a lifeline for women facing profound mental health challenges. While demand for their services has escalated, and they now face some impossible choices. Find out how your vote can help.

What Does WISH Do?

Established in 1987, WISH is the only national, user-led mental health charity in the UK working with women in prison, hospital and the community. They develop pioneering gender-specific and trauma-informed support services for underserved women, share evidence of what works to improve services and outcomes for all women, and campaign together for social justice.

Empowered by their own lived experience, they help women connect and open up - often for the first time. They stand together with them for the long term – through the ups, downs, relapses and revivals – offering them trust, relational security and guidance. Helping them build their own positive pathways under their own agency and control. WISH are currently in the middle of an urgent fundraising campaign – No woman left behind- to keep their doors open.

Over the past year, the pressure on their services has completely outstripped the charity’s financial resources, with more and more women pushed into crisis by poverty, prejudice and the extreme difficulties of accessing NHS mental healthcare. Since 2023, the number of women in free counselling with WISH has doubled, and their waiting lists grow by the week.

Your vote could make all the difference in helping them raise the necessary funds.

What Services do WISH Provide?

WISH offers a variety of services for women with complex mental health needs in the community, prisons or mental health hospitals:

Advocacy: campaigning, research and representation, advice.

Counselling: one to one trauma informed gender specific sessions.

Community Link: practical and emotional support to women in Greater London as they move from prison or secure hospital into the community.

Coaching: Training, volunteering and employment support.

Their wraparound Community Link services equip women with the skills, security and self-esteem necessary for successful resettlement, through:

• Pathways tailored to each individual’s needs and aims, to ensure long-term and meaningful change
• Support to engage with services and attend court dates
• Links into statutory and voluntary services
• Support with housing and accommodation issues
• Financial assistance and benefits guidance
• One-to-one support whenever and as often as each woman needs
• Social contact and peer support.

What Impact has WISH Had?

WISH have pioneered gender-specific and trauma-informed services and were at the forefront of the development of the gender-specific advocacy model in secure hospitals in 2002.

They helped push for the closure of the women’s wings of Broadmoor and Ashworth, profiling the desperate need for gender-specific services.

They have spent the last 37 years working with women, centering their experiences, and standing with them as they make positive changes in their lives.

Independent evaluation of their Community Link resettlement support service by Dr Louise Livesey (University of Gloucestershire) has shown positive change across three dynamic domains (mental health, offending issues and background social and functional issues).

90% of the women WISH works with have shown improvements across the complex needs domains.Of those who had made change, all improved within two or more domains; 40% saw positive change in all three domains.

How Will The Donation Help WISH?

Your help could make all the difference. Raising more funds will help WISH:

● Continue to provide Independent Mental Health Advocacy (IMHA) services in hospitals across the UK

● Meet our ongoing core costs, including salaries for their small team of staff and running costs for their office

● Recruit and train more community-link volunteers to support those who are struggling to navigate day-to-day life as a result of mental health challenges

● Recruit more skilled counsellors to provide every woman who needs it with trauma-informed, gender-specific counselling, completely free.

How Can I Contact WISH ?

People can self-refer to WISH services or can be referred by other services. To find out about accessing membership or services please contact WISH. Membership is free for women with experience of mental distress and an online version of the membership form can be accessed at their Become a Member page. 

WISH Contact Details:

• Telephone: 020 8980 3618
• Address: 15 Old Ford Road, London, E2 9PL, St. Margaret’s House, 2nd floor
• Email: info@womenatwish.org.uk
• Website: http://www.womenatwish.org.uk
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wishcharity
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/wishcharity
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/wishcharity/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wishcharity/
• Give As You Live: https://donate.giveasyoulive.com/donate?cid=108281

How Can I Support Wish?

Vote for WISH here, and consider making a donation here..

By voting for WISH in the May 2024 poll, you're not just casting a ballot; you're directly contributing to the positive change they create in the lives of vulnerable women. Every vote brings them closer to reaching more women in need and offering them the hope and support they deserve.