Current media volunteer opportunities

We match media volunteers with opportunities based on their experience and comfort level. Right now, we're only searching for people in Wales. 

We’re afraid we don't have any other openings at the moment. But when we do, we’ll advertise them here. If you don't live in Wales, why not see how else you can get involved with Mind in the meantime? 

Get involved

People in Wales

We’re calling for mental health to be a priority during the next Programme for Government in Wales, and we need your help. We know this message will be more powerful if we can include your words, not just ours.

Ahead of the upcoming Senedd elections, we’d like to speak with people from across Wales about their experiences of accessing mental health support and the quality of care received.

This includes young people, those accessing inpatient mental health services or community-based services, people from racialised communities and anyone else who can help highlight the lived experiences people of living with mental health problems in Wales.

If you'd like to get involved, you can apply to become a media volunteer by clicking the button below.

Become a media volunteer

Community Treatment Orders (CTOs)

Community treatment orders (CTOs) are meant to give people with mental health problems supervised treatment in the community, instead of being treated in hospital. They give someone a set of conditions they have to follow when they're discharged from hospital, and were introduced to stop people repeatedly going back into hospital. But they don’t work.

They don't reduce the number of readmissions, or the amount of time people spend in hospital. They're intrusive and restrict people's lives, and are used disproportionately on Black people, who are 11 times more likely to be placed on one than white people. People often don't know what they have to do to get off the order.
 
Mind is calling on the government to abolish CTOs as part of its reforms to the Mental Health Act. We'd like to hear from you if you or someone you care for has lived experience of a CTO.

People in Wales

We need your help to highlight the challenges people living with mental health problems are facing in Wales. We'd like to speak to people with any of the below experiences of mental health problems. Please note that this opportunity is only open to people currently living in Wales.

• Experienced worsening mental health while on a waiting list for Welsh NHS mental health support
• Experienced mental health problems related to financial hardship
• Had a negative experience of Welsh NHS mental health support
• Experienced stigma and discrimination because of a mental health problem

We are particularly interested in hearing from young people, and people from racialised communities.

Young people

It’s vital that young people have access to the right mental health support. However, we know too often young people can’t get help for mental health when they need it, and find that the kind of support they need either doesn’t exist or isn’t delivered in a space they feel comfortable talking about their mental health.

We’re keen to hear from anyone aged 18-23 who has:

• Struggled to access mental health support – this could be through school, the NHS or somewhere else
• Had to wait more than a year for support
• Struggled to find or afford specific mental health support to suit their needs for example, because of their background or diagnosis
• Accessed mental health support somewhere other than school or the NHS

People who've used a Mind service

We’re always looking for people who've been supported by Mind, to help us raise awareness of our services and reach people who might need our support. Please get in touch if you've:

• Called Mind’s Infoline, Welfare benefits or Legal line for advice
• Used Mind’s Side by Side community

Money, benefits and mental health

Since summer 2021, Mind’s Infoline has seen a 40% rise in calls from people dealing with problems with money, unemployment and benefits.

Callers are telling us they feel on edge about their finances, and they're worried about paying bills. To help highlight the issue, we’re keen to hear from people who:

• Are in receipt of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and want to share their thoughts on the UK Governments proposed changes to the benefits system
• Had to resign from their job after becoming unwell because they weren’t eligible for Statutory Sick Pay (SSP), their SSP didn’t cover basic living costs, or it didn’t cover them for the length of time they needed off sick due to their mental health

People of colour

We know that people of colour face disproportionate mental health challenges because of systemic racism. Our own research tells us that people of colour have also been among the hardest hit by the pandemic.

Mind are working hard to support and represent more people of colour to share their stories. We need to genuinely speak up and stand up for communities that have been historically under-represented in our work.

We'd like to hear from anyone experiencing a mental health problem who identifies as being from a racialised community. And we'd particularly like to hear from:

• People who have experienced racial trauma which has impacted their mental health
• Young Black men (aged between 18-30 years old)

Inpatient experience

Everyone should feel respected and cared for when they're in hospital for their mental health. But often this isn’t the case.

We need your help to show how important it is for the government to hold an inquiry into the state of mental health hospitals.

We want to hear from anyone who has received inpatient care in a mental health hospital in England. This might have been voluntary, or you might have been detained (or sectioned) under the Mental Health Act.