ENGAGE LIFE
A BRIEF OVERVIEW
By Penny Tate
UK charity # 1159892
1
To empower adults with mental
health issues and disabilities, by
providing a variety of activities that
enables them to realise their true
worth and reach their full potential.
- Mission statement
We’re a charity that enhances the lives
of people with mental health issues
and disabilities by building their selfworth.
ENGAGE LIFE
We do this by providing a structure
where our clients do project based
activities, across a wide range of
disciplines, teaching them skills that
they can take forward into their lives.
And they don’t do it for themselves,
they do it for others . . .
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
2
When our clients help others it has a direct positive impact on them.
When they choose an activity that helps another charity, or group, or just someone else
in need, their self esteem and self worth increases significantly.
PAY IT FORWARD
They’re helping their community.
They’re making a difference to the people around them.
They’re having a positive impact.
The ripple effect of having a positive influence on someone else, while still learning
skills that will help them forever, has an enormous impact on mental health problems.
In our two year pilot project we’ve seen our clients go on to build meaningful lives.
Additionally, with this ripple effect, your investment works twice. Firstly, for our clients
and secondly for the causes and communities that they help.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
3
“For the year ending 2015 there are
estimated to be 25,341 adults with
mental health disorder in South
Worcestershire.” (NICE 2009)
For the past two years we’ve run a pilot
project with fourteen clients. The very
nature of the people who have mental
health difficulties means that they are
almost always unreliable in long term
programmes.
PILOT PROJECT
With our pilot project the opposite was
true. We had a 99% attendance rate which
is virtually unheard of in mental health
circles.
While we only had the capacity to help
fourteen people, we had a constant waiting
list of at least fifty. These numbers speak
for themselves.
It proves our method works. Pay it forward
works. When people are involved in
activities that benefit others, they become
empowered. They’re no longer the one
who needs help, they become the helper.
They are valued, they are appreciated, they
are needed.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
4
PILOT PROJECT PICS
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
5
Our approach is unique
in the UK.
There is no one else in
the country using our
model to rehabilitate
people with mental
health by using a
specific process of
getting them to help
others.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
UNIQUE
6
We intend to roll out
Engage Life throughout
the country after we
have a established a
firm base in Worcester.
We’ve learnt from our
pilot project that as
long as the principle of
paying it forward is
applied, to create
rehabilitation, there are
a number of different
types of projects we
can create to make
changes in local
communities.
THE FUTURE
We plan to have
satellites of Engage Life
nationally in the next
three years.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
7
MEASUREABLE
“One in four people will suffer from some form of mental ill-health in
their lifetime.” (World Mental Health Day statistic)
All of our activities have a definite purpose – to enhance the lives of
others in the community.
It is very easy for us to measure the successful outcomes of this charity
and prove the movement in our clients’ rehabilitation.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
8
THE TEAM
This is our team that ran the
successful pilot project. We’ve
spent the last year setting up
Engage Life because we believe
so strongly in the results we’ve
seen from our pay it forward
method.
Penny Tate // Founder & CEO
Penny has spent over ten years
managing projects that have
helped people with mental health
issues and disabilities.
Gail Newns // Project Worker
Gail has five years of experience
working for Penny in various
projects supporting clients.
Paul Lambert // Project Leader
Paul has a background in design
and art and has worked as a
project designer for Penny for
the last three years.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
9
Peter was a full time carer for his mother.
When she passed away he felt very alone
and desperate in life.
He had no other family or friends in his
community and felt his life wasn’t worth
living. So he attempted to end his life and
was admitted to a psychiatric hospital for
two weeks.
CASE STUDY
His community psych nurse heard about
our pilot project and brought him along to
meet us. At first he was very anxious and
found it hard to communicate with people,
but gradually he found purpose in his life
again and realised that he could make a
difference and that his life was worth living.
Two years on he has contributed greatly to
his local community and raised over £2,000
for a number of good causes, one being
Cancer Research which was very close to
his heart.
He now volunteers three times a week for a
local group called Survivors that helps
people with mental health issues giving
them friendship and support.
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
10
“Depression will be the second most
disabling condition in the world by 2020.”
(NICE 2009)
ENGAGE LIFE
Mental health is the biggest challenge to our
lives in the UK and in the developing world.
And we, as Engage Life, have the team, the
track record and the ability to help tackle this
problem.
For further information contact:
Penny Tate
07796 441 488
Engage Life
Unit D Britannia Court
Worcester
Worcestershire
WR1 3DF
ENGAGE LIFE // A BRIEF OVERVIEW
11