Connected Voice Magazine Autumn 2021

Welcome to the Autumn 2021 edition of Connected Voice Magazine. There’s no denying that mental health has become a major area of focus for many people throughout the coronavirus pandemic. In this issue we talk to different voluntary and community organisations about how their staff, beneficiaries and volunteers have been affected by mental health and COVID-19 restrictions, how their services have been adapted and what they are doing to support people around mental health. 
Our own Connected Voice Haref project has been facilitating peer research on mental health in ethnically minoritised communities and we learn about their key findings and recommendations.
The health partnership, Collaborative Newcastle, talks about their aims to tackle mental health and wellbeing across the city and Jane Kingston from Connected Voice Advocacy highlights the implications of changes to the legislation around mental health, and what this means for the way Advocates support people.
Funding remains a key concern for many organisations so Jack Summerside from Connected Voice Support and Development shares his advice around funding mental health projects and some of the ways you can take a creative approach when many specific mental health funds are over-subscribed.