The Caring Minds team visited, Haleema Parveen, Community Psychiatric Nurse at Northcroft to receive a donation of a wonderful £1,800 raised from selling hand carved soap stone hearts at community events, supermarkets and restaurants. It was so encouraging to hear her enthusiasm, not only for supporting our Trust charity, but also for the conversations about mental health that she was able to have whilst selling her hearts. Her passion for supporting mental health and her heart for charity shone though as solid as the hearts she was selling.

Hally says,

Hally says,
 
‘‘I have been selling soap stone hearts for a few years now in aid of Caring Minds and another charity and was really pleased to have sold 1,000 hearts and raised over £1,800 for the Trust charity. I have been to lots of venues over the years such as community centres, supermarkets, community events and restaurants. 
 
As well as making money to give to charity, it’s also a great opportunity to talk to people informally about mental health. Mental health struggles affect so many people, of all ages, from all walks of life. I think this awareness raising is even more important with ethnic groups; to encourage them to talk and signpost for them to get help if they need it. It’s been tiring sometimes, but it’s been really good to have a chance to have those important conversations.’

If you have a fundraising idea to support Caring Minds, we would love to hear from you bsmhft.fundraising@nhs.net.