---

Text Version:

Foreword:

Maintaining positive mental health and wellbeing is even more important than ever. In the next five years Chapter will reach out to people where they learn, work and live, ensuring that we create strong communities where positive mental health practices are embedded into everyday life. This work will be guided by people with lived experience of mental illness, who are central to everything we do.

I am excited to present Chapter’s Strategic Plan on behalf of the Board of Trustees. This document is the culmination of our learning over the last 30 years, building on previous successes and ensuring that Chapter continues to communicate a very clear message – together, we’ve got this.

— Sharon Shelbourne, Chair

Executive Summary:

The development of positive mental health and wellbeing has been at the heart of Chapter’s strategic aims across its 30 year history. Chapter is pleased to present its strategic plan which outlines how we will achieve our mission to inspire individuals, communities and workplaces to build positive mental health over the next five years.

We would like to offer thanks to those supporters who have shared our vision and invested in Chapter to this point. We have ambitious plans to build new relationships which support our future sustainability whether that be through sharing of skills, knowledge and time or financial investment.

We also want to acknowledge the vital contribution made by our late CEO, Daniel Rogers, who was inspirational in the development of this document. He motivated the Chapter team to move forward through a period of significant change, including steering us through the COVID 19 pandemic. He led the development of this strategy reflecting on his lived experience of mental ill-health, laying the foundations which will ensure the future of Chapter.

We are confident that Chapter’s mission, vision and strategic priorities will enable us to play an important role in improving the mental health and wellbeing of local communities. We know that these strong foundations are a solid base on which to build Chapter’s future and we look forward to sharing this journey with you.

— Team Chapter

About Chapter:

Vision: Chapter’s vision is for communities where mental ill-health is no longer a barrier to opportunity, and where everyone can reach their potential and realise their aspirations.

Mission: To inspire individuals, communities, and workplaces to build positive mental health.

Values:

• Nurturing: We inspire and empower. Everyone can achieve better mental health.
• Creative: We’re resourceful and open to new ideas.
• Agile: We respond quickly to the changing need of communities.
• Inclusive: Open to all, we celebrate and respect individuality

The Story So Far: Back in 1991 a group of people experiencing mental ill-health came together with a team of health professionals to address a gap in provision for those recovering from mental-ill health seeking access to meaningful work activity.

Thirty years on and Chapter is now a vibrant mental health charity providing a range of services across Cheshire, inspiring and supporting individuals, communities and workplaces to build positive mental health.

In 2020 Chapter embarked on its biggest transformation in its 30 year history. Our 2022-27 five year strategic plan continues this transformational journey and sets out our priorities as we emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic and look to the future.

In the last five years…

• 5k mental health support sessions
• 150,000 people hours
• 150 volunteers
• Over 2,500 hours invested by volunteers

Strategic Priorities:

Now is the time to be bold – to inspire individuals, communities, and workplaces to build positive mental health. The need for Chapter has never been greater. We must build on our success and continue our transformation, to enable us to inspire, empower, and support more people. We leave nobody behind.

Championing Lived Experience: For over 30 years Chapter’s services have been designed and delivered in collaboration with those who have experienced mental ill-health, and we are committed to continuing this today. We support and encourage those with lived experience to join our team. We will continue to embed lived experience in all that we do and consider the experience of those accessing our services in all decision making.

Reaching More People: We will continue to develop new services that meet the needs of local communities and address gaps in local provision. We will champion creative solutions to problems and will not be afraid to be bold. We will nurture new and existing partnerships. We’re committed to working with local communities and will develop further services that take a community approach to promoting mental health and wellbeing.

Investing In Our Team: Chapter’s volunteers, staff and Trustees are essential to achieving our mission and strategic objectives. We will continue to grow our staff and volunteer teams, investing in training and development opportunities and promoting inclusion and diversity. We will promote a positive working environment that demonstrates our values and supports people to be the best they can be. We will be an inspiration to other employers.

Sustainable Growth: We will build on our recent success in diversifying our income. We will continue to invest in income generation and increase income generating roles as we grow. We will invest time in developing and piloting new projects that may lead to income generation in the future. We will embed sustainability practices across the organisation to reduce our environmental impact and increase the social and economic impact of our work.

Measuring Impact: We are committed to understanding our impact, ensuring we meet the needs of those accessing our services and ensuring we use resources effectively. We will develop our Impact and Evaluation Framework, ensuring our processes and systems are lean, and continue to implement digital solutions to build effective evaluation processes that enable more resource to be invested in delivering impact. We are transparent about our work and committed to evaluating our work responsibly.

Individuals:

We inspire individuals to build and maintain positive mental health. Our services empower individuals to move forward in their personal journey, and enable people to take positive steps towards better mental health, regardless of where they are in their journey when they join Chapter. We are a beacon of hope.

Adults: We will continue to deliver a variety of core services to adults experiencing mental ill-health. Services will focus on needs and aspirations across the mental health spectrum, including mild to moderate and Serious Mental Illness (SMI).

Children and Young People: We will develop an in-house specialist team providing a range of services to young people affected by mental ill-health.

Carers: We know that positive mental health is reliant on good support networks, and that’s why we will invest new resource in supporting carers and parents.

Living Independently: We will develop new services that provide intensive support to individuals with complex care needs, with a focus on wellbeing to improve broader health outcomes.

We will co-produce services alongside individuals with lived experience. Services will be person centred and recognise the individual as the expert in their life and situation.

Our team of staff and volunteers are essential to the delivery of high quality services. We will support team members to grow, providing training opportunities to equip them to be the best that they can be. We will expand training in specialist areas of mental health.

We know we carry out great work, but we know we can demonstrate it better. We’ll build monitoring systems that make measuring impact more effective, and we’ll support team members to capture data efficiently.

Communities:

Achieving positive mental health is dependent on the healthy environments in which we are born, grow, live, work and age. Chapter supports communities to create and maintain places and spaces that promote positive mental health. We work with people to create positive change in their local communities, and we foster environments where health and wellbeing is central to their design and function.

Places and Spaces: We will develop vibrant spaces that promote community cohesion and wellbeing. Building on the success of The Haven we will work with new communities to create both indoor and outdoor spaces that foster and promote positive mental health.

Housing: We will design projects that lead to improved living conditions for individuals whose mental health is negatively impacted by their housing or accommodation.

Community Outreach: We will continue to promote positive mental health at public events and spaces, challenging stigma, reducing isolation and championing the voice of those affected by mental ill-health.

We will engage communities in the design and development of spaces that contribute to the promotion of positive mental health, adopting co-production and asset-based approaches to community development.

We will develop projects and services that bring communities together. Using creative solutions, we will develop community spaces that enable more people to achieve positive mental health. We will work with our network of partners to support community groups to access Chapter spaces.

We will develop spaces that adopt self-sustaining practices and wherever possible cultivate their own income generation streams to support their sustainability. In design and operation, community spaces will consider the impact they have on the environment.

Workspaces:

Individuals can spend a lot of their time at work, this means that workplace culture impacts significantly on health and wellbeing. Whether the team is situated in a single location such as an office or working remotely, a positive workplace culture improves teamwork, raises morale, increases productivity and efficiency, and enhances retention of the workforce. Chapter collaborates with employers to create cultures and workplaces that inspire positive mental health and wellbeing for their team.

Discover and Inspire: Taking time to understand each workplace’s culture world, we will provide businesses with a diagnostic service followed by a comprehensive workplace wellbeing report with bespoke solutions to inspire sustainable change.

Innovate and Grow: We will work with workplaces to embed sustainable change across an organisation through assessments, policy development and implementation, facilitation of wellbeing interventions, and individual support packages.

Positive Employment: Returning to Chapter’s roots, we will work with positive mental health employers to reduce barriers to employment and support people living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) to achieve and maintain employment.

Positive Workspaces: The physical spaces we work in significantly impact our wellbeing at work. We will work with businesses to develop spaces that promote positive mental health and support employees to realise their potential.

We will further expand our Workplaces team and develop a robust product portfolio, redefining how communities approach wellbeing in the workplace. We’ll engage 50 local employers in positive mental health within the workplace by 2024.

We will support businesses to embed sustainable wellbeing solutions which create environments that are positive about mental health and provide a lasting impact on employee health, job satisfaction and productivity.

We will empower those with lived experience to influence mental health in the workplace, and support people to build confidence and learn skills through training and co-facilitation of interventions.

Our Roadmap:

2022 – 2023:

Opening The Haven: We’ll kick off our five-year plan with the opening of The Haven, our community garden space in Ellesmere Port.

By 2023, The Haven will be a vibrant community-led space offering wellbeing opportunities to residents and local groups. We’ll collate our learning from this project and invest it into the acquisition and planning of our second community space.

Workplaces: We will further expand our Workplaces team and develop a robust product portfolio that will redefine how communities approach wellbeing in the workplace.

2023 – 2024:

Lived Experience: By 2024 a comprehensive strategy will further embed lived experience in the strategic planning process and service design and delivery. It will outline how we intend to upskill and support those with lived experience to co-deliver mental health interventions in the workplace.

Where necessary, we will conduct research and a review of the terminology around lived experience, and we will engage stakeholders in defining what lived experience means to them and to Chapter.

Through our partnership with Chester University’s Business School we’ll scale up our business to business services, and engage 50 local employers in positive mental health within the workplace by 2024.

We’ll collaborate with employers and individuals with lived experience to reduce barriers to employment and support people living with Serious Mental Illness (SMI) to achieve and maintain employment.

2045 – 2025:

Places and Spaces: With the successful completion of The Haven community garden, by 2025 we will be well on our way to realising our second community space, with 250 people engaged across the two sites annually.

We’ll already be working with residents to define a sustainable community driven model for the future management of the space.

2025 – 2026:

Children & Young People: Following a series of pilot projects and needs assessments, by 2026 our permanent Children & Young People team will be established with a core service model operational and a clear strategy for the future.

We’ll work with local commissioners to ensure our work addresses gaps in local provision, and we’ll support young people to take an active role in the future direction of Chapter and
its services.

2026 – 2027:

Over 5000 people engaged with Chapter and achieving positive mental health by 2027: Chapter’s three service divisions (Individuals, Communities and Workplaces) will be fully integrated and working efficiently together to foster positive mental health communities across Cheshire. We’ll probably take a moment to catch our breath… before embarking on a new 5-year plan.