Directors of community interest company Mosaic Mentality Oxfordshire had a brief run at providing mental health support in the county, having already suspended its session after launching in August.
Jacqui Vincent-Potter and Matthew Tanner founded the grassroots organisation, which invests any revenue back into the company in the interest of the community, to create a “safe and welcoming space” with workshops and wellbeing activities for people in Oxfordshire.
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The “pause” of its operations have been put down to “a combination of financial and systemic barriers that continue to undermine grassroots mental health provision”.
A file image of someone struggling with their mental health (Image: Radar AI) Ms Vincent-Potter and Mr Tanner expressed their concern over what they perceive as an “ongoing lack of funding and support” from the authorities for community-based services.
“The reality is that vulnerable members of our community are being left without the help they urgently need,” the co-founders said.
“We are seeing first-hand the consequences of people waiting too long for help, services being cut back, and volunteers being left to shoulder responsibilities they cannot sustain without proper investment.
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“Mental health should be treated with the same urgency as physical health, yet the system continues to let people down.
“We are devastated about having to suspend the group, and our vision.”
They added that national commitments to improve mental health provisions have not translated into “meaningful, local investment” and demand continues to rise while grassroots services cannot keep up.
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A spokesperson for Oxfordshire County Council, which is responsible for allocating mental health funding in the county, retracted a previous statement.
They instead said: “Upon further investigation, neither Oxfordshire County Council nor Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust have funded the organisation Mosaic Mentality Oxfordshire.”
At a meeting of Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet on January 21 this year, councillors agreed to contribute £6.2 million each year, for the next ten years, into a pooled budget with health care partners, under plans to bring together existing mental health service contracts.
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The new plan means the county council will continue to financially contribute to the pooled budget and lead the joint commissioning of services, but a new body, the Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board, would hold the contract and be responsible for developing it.
The new board was also intended to work with Oxford NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership, to consolidate the separate contracts into one new agreement.
The Mosaic Mentality founders said they have asked the county council and the integrated care board about funding avenues, but were told none would be open to them.
A file image of someone struggling with their mental health (Image: PA) They added: “We remain open to learning how to apply for the partnerships, and hope for further communications in the future, but with the lack of sufficient funding we do not see a way forward at this time, but we are not giving up on finding a way forward for the needed support in the community.”
Mosaic Mentality met twice a week in Waitrose’s community room in Southam Road, Banbury, and were exploring options for a permanent home when they closed.
The founders added: “Without immediate action, the crisis in mental health support will only deepen, leaving more people isolated, at risk, and unsupported.”