FDAMH has providing free mental health support to the Falkirk community for over 40 years…
When Joyce Cottle rallied the community leaders together and started a lunch club in 1981, her mission was to provide a safe space and to support people within the community, this remains our mission today.
We’re proud of our beginnings and excited about the future!
FDAMH established as a
lunch club by a small group
of volunteers keen to alleviate
the isolation and loneliness of
people with mental health
problems
FDAMH gains its first proper
base and starts to offer a
Drop-In Centre along with
the ongoing community lunch
clubs, all delivered and
managed by volunteers
The Committee obtains
funding to recruit FDAMH’s
first full-time staff member to
develop and manage FDAMH’s
services
FDAMH moves to its first
long-term base – a shared
converted cottage in Thornhill
Road
New funding supports the
introduction of a Befriending
Service but a difficult period
of staff changes places a
heavy burden back on
FDAMH’s volunteers
Staffing settles and the
‘Victoria Centre’ is born as
FDAMH takes over all the
cottage, allowing existing
services to expand
FDAMH becomes a registered
charity
Increased statutory funding
brings significant expansion
to existing services and the
introduction of the Link
Service (now Social Prescribing)
Grant funding becomes
essential for further growth
and delivers a permanent
Counselling Service
With the Victoria Centre aging
and cramped, Trustees and
staff begin the 8-year long
struggle to create a more
suitable home for FDAMH
Informal support given to
carers leads to the creation of
the Carers Project (now
Family Support), but
pressures on space see the
staff team split as some head
off to rented accommodation
The new purpose-built
Victoria Centre opens – the
staff team (now 10) are back
together at last! Thanks to a
massively improved centre
and visibility, significant
increasing demand and
organisational growth follows
Staff readiness to help people
arriving at the centre in
distress is supported by the
introduction of a ‘cover’ rota
in the face of growing
demand, eventually called the
‘Immediate Help Service‘
Multi-agency discussions lead
to the establishment of a
Bereaved by Suicide Group
at FDAMH with support from
NHS Pastoral Care Team,
serving people from across
Forth Valley
Wellbeing Groupwork
courses commence with an
‘Anxiety Management’ course,
topics expand considerably in
the years to come
Grant funding introduces
Third Age Befriending for
older people, whilst our new
and exuberant Media Group
will enlighten the public on
mental health issues over the
next 6 years
FDAMH launches its new logo
with the strapline created by
people using the services –
‘Light in a Dark Place‘
Over the next few years more
staff are introduced so that
many single-person services
become teams, by 2016 there
are 25 staff
The recruitment of a
dedicated Arts & Media
Coordinator sees an increase
in the use of creativity as
therapy, including the
establishment of the now
independent ‘Freedom of
Mind Choir‘
FDAMH is proud to win the GSK Impact Award and is boosted by the massively successful ‘No Men Nevis’ community fundraising initiative
FDAMH Training Academy is
launched, providing mental
health education to the wider
community
FDAMH’s two befriending
services merge to become
‘Social Spark‘ and ‘Drop-In’
soon joins them to complete
this multi-stranded, socially
focussed service
Pandemic lockdowns bite but
FDAMH’s services move
rapidly to remote models,
attendance rates improve and
counsellors, freed from space
constraints, deliver record
numbers of sessions
FDAMH proudly celebrates its
40th Birthday and the lives of
its founders, Joyce Cottle and
the Rev. Duncan McClements
We’re thrilled to launch a dedicated Young Person’s Service for people aged 13 to 24.
