The SHM Foundation

Now Live: Visual Tales of 'Unexpected' Mental Health Champions Our photo exhibition celebrating culturally rooted approaches to #mentalhealth care from Ember Innovators across the globe is now open in #London. 🗓️ Dates: October 10 – October 27, 2024 📍 Location: Brunswick Square Gardens, London

🌍 Today is #WorldMentalHealthDay and at The SHM Foundation, we recognise that supporting each other’s #wellbeing isn’t just an ideal—it’s what we do every day. This year's theme, "Mental Health at Work", highlights the vital role of a healthy working environment. At SHM, our team culture is built on shared values that guide us: ✨ Care & Kindness: We prioritise looking after one another and the people we work with, dedicating time and resources to support the wellbeing of our team, partners, and participants. 🌐 Connection: Spanning over six countries, we know meaningful human connection doesn’t require being in the same room. We promote participatory leadership, collaboratively establishing our strategy and developing programmes in a close-knit, open, and cooperative environment. One of our favourite practices? Reading Days —a moment to pause, reflect, and recharge. And don’t forget our wellbeing mystery days —planned through a lottery system, offering surprise activities designed by the team to relax and bring joy. At SHM, wellbeing is at the heart of everything we do. #MentalHealthAtWork #WorkplaceWellbeing

Exciting news! 🎉 We’ve successfully wrapped up recruitment for our next group of Khuluma mentors, a mobile phone intervention offering psychosocial support to adolescents living with HIV in #SouthAfrica. With 40 participants across 4 groups, we’re all set to begin impactful conversations! The younger participants (12-17 years) are particularly enthusiastic, showing a strong interest in peer support and digital engagement. We’re excited to see the positive impact of these participatory, peer-led, and digital methods with our new group!

Exciting times ahead for SHM Foundation Africa!   Earlier this week, we officially held our first SHM Foundation Africa board meeting, diving into innovative ideas for the year ahead in arts, mental health, and beyond. It was an honour to collaborate with our brilliant board directors—Rose Waithaka, Amisa Rashid, Rosebella Iseme, and having our Co-Chair Professor Dame Henrietta Moore join them in person, in Nairobi. We’re thrilled to welcome them and look forward to their valuable insights as we embark on this inspiring journey together!

🎤 Happening today! Rini Sinha, Head of Strategy & Creative at SHM Foundation, and Desmond Tau, Head of Technology for SHM’s #Khuluma programme, are presenting at Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre’s conference ‘Bridging the Gap: Urban Health Transitions Towards Just and Inclusive Cities’. They’ll share insights from a pilot intervention in #SierraLeone that used mobile phones and digital technology to help People with Disabilities access essential health information. Don’t miss it—register here: https://lnkd.in/ghC_zswx

Our #Khuluma team in #SouthAfrica recently hosted an inspiring Career Guidance event for our support group members, aiming to help secondary school students make informed career choices. We had guest speakers from diverse fields like engineering, law, aviation, teaching, and health, who shared their career journeys and provided valuable insights into the subjects needed, university admissions, and professional pathways. What set our event apart was a personality assessment led by a career guidance counsellor, helping students understand their strengths and how they align with various careers. This was complemented by one-on-one conversations with the speakers, making the experience even more enriching. With over 50 attendees, we’re proud to have provided meaningful guidance to the next generation of professionals. 💼

Exciting news! 📢 Anna Kydd, Director and Co-Founder of SHM Foundation and Ember Mental Health, will be speaking at the upcoming webinar, 'The Mental Health Fundraising Landscape', organised by Catalyst 2030: Mental Health Collaboration. Hear from leading experts at the forefront of global mental health #philanthropy and financing as they delve into key trends in #mentalhealth funding, identify critical resource gaps, and discuss future visions for fundraising in this vital sector. 🗓️ Date: Today, 3rd September Register here: https://lnkd.in/derg58eH

📢 Introducing Zumbido Pulse: Latest Insights from Zumbido Health Programme! In our latest issue, we explore how young participants of #Khuluma, Zumbido’s South African chapter, engaged in “research conducted by and for the community,” with the support of an academic partnership. This participatory approach brings valuable insights into the #mentalhealth of adolescents living with HIV. Discover how youth with lived experience led this research and listen to excerpts from the interviews! Nikita Simpson https://lnkd.in/gX7SM_pP

📣 SHM Foundation’s Annual Report 2022-2023 is Out Now! We are thrilled to present our latest report, highlighting the diverse projects that have empowered communities in Mental Health and Wellbeing, Education and Livelihoods, and the Arts. Highlights: 🌱 Mental Health and Wellbeing Through our flagship programme, Ember Mental Health, we provided tailored support, including mentorship and funding, to innovative, locally-led #mentalhealth initiatives. In #SouthAfrica, Khuluma offered psychosocial and wellbeing support to young people living with HIV. Meanwhile, in #Zimbabwe, The Young Mother’s Lounge project created safe virtual spaces for young mothers living with HIV. Through these projects, we saw the ripple effects felt in communities, organisations, and societies when people feel supported, cared for and capable to exercise agencies in their own lives. 🎓 Education and Livelihoods Project Noor collaborated with #refugee women of Middle Eastern heritage living in the #UK, co-designing solutions to the barriers they face in securing rewarding employment. The Marakwet Education Project supported girls and boys in secondary and tertiary #education in #Kenya. 🎨 Arts Our partnerships with the Royal Academy of Music and Spitalfields Music have fostered deeper community engagement and enriched storytelling. Read the full report here: https://lnkd.in/gvp_7Emr

Applications can be time-consuming and stressful, but not with us! We've made our process quick and simple. Here’s what previous Ember partners have said about our application process: "simple and uncomplicated," "requires minimal documentation". Ember is looking for community-based #mentalhealth initiatives to join our next partnership group! Applications are now live: https://lnkd.in/gQ5rNPdK