In 2017, after being diagnosed with a mental health condition, Jon Manning started Arthur Ellis Mental Health Foundation to improve mental health services. This was after he experienced years of waiting for meaningful help.
Seven years on, the Arthur Ellis Mental Health Foundation, now a registered charity, is providing its one-to-one service to thousands of residents in Milton Keynes and the surrounding areas.
With help from Milton Keynes Community Foundation, Arthur Ellis continues to invest in improving its services.
“Mental health services are challenging enough for an individual to access; recognising something is wrong, building up the courage, getting others on board, it all takes time. We deserve to have services there when we need them, rather than when a spot eventually opens up,” said Jon.
When Arthur Ellis opened its doors, with no waiting list, the need for its service was immediately apparent. In 2021, the organisation received 430 referrals, growing to 1,400 in 2022 and then 2,400 in 2023. This year, the team are expecting to welcome over 3,000 children, young people and adults into the service. This exponential growth has been hugely supported by a variety of organisations, including the NHS, schools, businesses and local people.
In 2020, as Arthur Ellis was seeing a huge need for its services, the Milton Keynes Community Foundation offered support to develop a bespoke referral system, allowing the service to accept referrals quickly and efficiently, and to allow people to refer someone with similar ease.
Unfortunately, the need continues to grow, and Arthur Ellis has had to respond. Along with the Milton Keynes Community Foundation, the charity has now invested in a new, bespoke referral system that puts all the control in the hands of the person coming for support.
When referred by their GP, school, college or business, people will experience a seamless and easy experience to get help for themselves or their child.
They will be asked some questions, select what they need some help with, and the Arthur Ellis Referral System will be able to narrow down the team members with the required skill sets and supporting qualifications. From there, the system will link the individual directly to the team member with whom they have chosen to book their first appointment directly into the team member’s calendar. The system is often able to offer times within the same week as the referral.
Jon Manning added: “Arthur Ellis is on a mission to revolutionise how people access help for their mental health issues. Since 2017, we’ve been providing a one-to-one service to those in the community who would otherwise have limited or restricted access to mental health services and it’s clear that there is still more we need to do.”
To find out more about the Arthur Ellis Mental Health Foundation and the work the charity does across the community, visit www.arthurellismhs.com or find more on LinkedIn @ArthurEllisMHS.
