Level Up is delighted to announce that it is now working in partnership with third sector providers Young Minds and Inspire, Motivate, Overcome (IMO) empowered by experts by experience. 

By working with YoungMinds and IMO the Provider Collaborative aims to drive improvements across Cheshire and Merseyside and also to support the establishment of the Experts by Experience programme. 

You can read more about Young Minds and IMO below. 

Inspire Motivate Overcome (IMO) is a community third sector organisation, based in Blackburn with Darwen. The charity has been in operation since 2006 and their current core mission has been to help local young people and their families to combat disadvantage, to overcome the difficult and different challenges they may face.

IMO specialise in working with BAME and disadvantaged communities by understanding the cultural barriers that can prevent these beneficiaries from accessing the support they require. Furthermore, IMO recognises the sensitivity required when dealing with issues related to mental health and eating disorders in these communities. ‘Level Up’ and ‘EmpowerED’ represents the start of an innovative and person-centred care approach that is currently absent in our local communities. Mental health issues and eating disorders are often ignored and hidden by BAME communities, using the previous experience of providers is paramount to overcome this stigma of shame. An important part of this care is ensuring the beneficiaries remain close to home and to their support network instead of being admitted to hospital if it can be avoided.

The director of operations, Mohammed Sidat said: “We are delighted to be a part of the NHS-Led Provider Collaborative, working alongside the NHS and other providers to drive innovation and creativity to truly person-centred care. This is vital as IMO and other providers can inform experts with the previous experiences in order to tailor future programmes to the needs of the community. We are excited that the collaboration will allow for improvements in quality, patient experience and patient outcomes driving change”.

You can read more about IMO on the IMO website.

YoungMinds is the UK's leading charity fighting for children and young people's mental health. We want to see a world where no young person feels alone with their mental health, and all young people get the mental health support they need, when they need it, no matter what.

At YoungMinds, we place young people and their lived experience at the heart of service design and delivery so we are delighted to be working with Level Up to establish and support their Young People and Families Expert by Experience Forum. 

We will be recruiting, training and supporting a group of young people to act as Community Champions to ensure that young people’s voices are at the heart of the planning, delivery and improvement of mental health services across Cheshire and Merseyside.

You can find out more about YoungMinds on the YoungMinds website.