"Leading mental health charity Mind today says that they still have nearly £1million in grants to give out to people with mental health problems. Mind would like to encourage as many people as possible to apply."

The exciting new scheme, ‘Real Lives, Real People’, is a unique partnership between Mind and the Millennium Commission, has already awarded grants up to £4,500 to people with mental health problems. Many of those people are now learning exciting new skills, which could lead to the career of their dreams.

People with mental health problems are routinely discriminated against in the job market. In a previous survey*, Mind found that 69% of people with mental health problems had been put off applying for jobs for fear of unfair treatment.        

Real Lives, Real People will enable people who have difficulty accessing training or employment, to arm themselves with new skills, and new career opportunities. It will also empower people who have experienced mental distress, build their confidence, and the results of their achievements will then go onto benefit the wider community.

Grants have already been awarded to projects such as; setting up a counselling service for people who have undergone physical trauma, counselling for people who have been sexually abused, and a website to provide help and support to gays and lesbians with mental health problems.

Other areas that have been chosen by successful applicants are; dance, music, drama, complementary medicine, upholstery, IT and art.

Real Lives, Real People follows on from the highly successful Mind Millennium Awards, which awarded a total of £1 million to over 500 projects. Many previous award winners have since gone on to develop highly successful careers such as play-writing and film-making.    

Mind welcomes applications from everyone who has experienced mental distress, who would like to learn new skills. Applications by people from Ethnic minorities will be particularly welcomed.

Real Lives, Real People will run until March 2003. Anyone interested in applying can call the awards team on 020 8215 2286. 

* Not Just Sticks and Stones, (Baker and Read) Mind 1996