Anxious Minds was set up by Edward Dean after he struggled to access support when he suffered mental health problems after leaving a career in the Armed Forces.
Edward spent 22 years in the Army, serving in many theaters of operation including Iraq, Kosovo, Bosnia and Northern Ireland before delivering operational training for troops heading out to Afghanistan.
Diagnosed with clinical depression, chronic anxiety and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, he waited almost a year on the NHS for treatment that never came. Eventually, he was offered help from a charity that supported veterans, but only in the form of one therapy session every two weeks.
Deciding it wasn’t enough, and that there must be many others in the same boat, he set up Anxious Minds to provide support to all sufferers of Anxiety and Depression. The charity has just secured North East actress and presenter Denise Welch as its patron.
The Newcastle charity enlisted the help of Unwritten Creative to ensure its key messages were delivered to those needing support. The brand revamp has been made ahead of Newcastle Mental Health Day on Saturday (Feb 6th) together with the introduction of Anxious Minds new Mental Health YouTube Channel, VLOG Therapy.
Unwritten Creative director Lisa Eaton said: “We’re thrilled to have been involved and to help such an important cause. All too often those with mental health problems are left floundering. The statistics involved are shocking. Many of those on waiting lists attempt suicide before they are ever reached.
The new brand identity is more visual and emotive; it concentrates on what can be achieved when the right help is offered.”
Unwritten Creative has revamped the Anxious Minds website and branding along with creating corporate literature which will be used to help the charity secure funding. When it first launched in 2015, the charity was solely funded by Edwards’s war pension but it is now applying for grants and is looking for sponsorship from North East Companies.
Edward said: “Anxious Minds is all about offering early intervention to those who need help. We’re thrilled with our new branding. It portrays our key messages in a way which is really easy to access and digest.”
Anxious Minds runs physical and virtual peer support groups along with mindfulness therapy and educational training. It is also in talks to offer cognitive behavior therapy online.
Edward added: “What got me through difficult times was understanding why I was feeling the way I was, finding out what I could do about it and putting that into practice. Our new branding is all part of us being able to offer that to others so they don’t have to battle these problems on their own. Together we can beat Anxiety and Depression”