To celebrate Mental Health Awareness Week, the Community Foundation for Merseyside has been visiting grassroots groups to hear first-hand how funded projects are transforming lives. One of those projects is Evolving Mindset, an award-winning mental health organisation founded in 2019 by brothers Phil and Andy Noon.

Born from lived experience, Evolving Mindset was created to bridge the gap between overstretched GP services and specialist mental health care. The organisation now provides training, digital and in-person support, and peer-led interventions across Merseyside.

Thanks to over £149,000 in grant funding from Community Foundation-managed funds—including the VRP Arts, Culture and Sports Fund (£45,270), Youth Empowerment Scheme (£24,997), Liverpool ONE Foundation (£26,741), and Mark McQueen Memorial Fund (£19,345)—Evolving Mindset has delivered a wide range of projects, including mental health nurse support, a seven-week online well-being course, youth empowerment sessions, and community drop-ins. These programmes have helped hundreds of people reduce isolation, improve confidence, and access the help they need.

“I started using Evolving Mindset because a friend of mine had been coming and said I might enjoy it. Get me out the flat a bit. I’ve been coming now for about two years. Sometimes I can go a whole week without speaking to anyone but the girls at the shop checkouts. But I come here on a Wednesday, have a coffee, talk to Adele, Kirsty, Karen, they’re a good bunch of people. It’s only for a couple of hours, but it makes all the difference.

I only attend the Wednesday group. I don’t do the Zoom chats or the men’s groups in Kirkby, they’re hard for me to get to. But the help I’ve had here, has been brilliant. One time, my anxiety was through the roof. One of the girls sat with me for 20 minutes and calmed me down. When my PIP got stopped, they got it reinstated the same day. You wouldn’t know how to do that on your own.

If this service didn’t exist, I’d be sitting in my flat staring at four walls, reading books and listening to music. I wouldn’t have made so many new friends. I’ve only missed one week in two years. I come now even if my mate can’t. I’m usually here early, half ten, just chatting. Even my daughters know not to make plans with me on a Wednesday because they know how much this means to me.

I’ve told other people to come, but they don’t always get it, ‘just sit and have a coffee?’ But that’s the point. It’s about being around people. Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without this place.”

“I joined Evolving Mindset in 2020, just as lockdown started. I was caring for an elderly man, my whole family were on the frontline, and my mental health was struggling. I saw a post shared in a Facebook group and signed up for the six-week Zoom programme. Each week built on the last and it made a huge impact. 

Before that, I was a primary school teacher, but in 2019 I became an amputee, and that changed everything. I isolated myself in a wheelchair. That’s when I realised, I wanted to support adults with mental health, not return to teaching. I retrained as a counsellor and joined the Evolving Mindset team. 

Now, I support the YES Project, the women’s group on Thursdays, and facilitate the Zoom sessions. On Wednesdays, I help with the community group. I love walking alongside people who come in vulnerable and watching them open up after hearing my story. It makes a real difference. 

Just last week, I’ve gave a talk to 265 kids at Anfield Stadium. Five years ago, that never would’ve happened. I’m confident, I’ve got self-esteem, I don’t hide in my wheelchair. It’s not just life-changing, it’s life-saving. 

If Evolving Mindset didn’t exist, I’d still be crying in a wheelchair, angry at the world. Instead, I wake up grateful and ready to support others. It’s a safe, non-judgmental space, and I’ll hold your hand through it all if that’s what you need.” 

“Evolving Mindset was founded in 2019 by me and my brother after I faced my own mental health crisis and couldn’t find support. My GP offered medication, but I needed more. We wanted to create a safe space, especially for those like me, stuck between GP and specialist services, so we started this with the aim of helping just one person.

Now we help thousands every year. We offer in-person groups, online Zoom sessions, a daily helpline, and targeted programmes. Mondays are for young people, Tuesdays are men’s clubs, Wednesdays are Well-being Wednesdays with food and activities, Thursdays support both men and women, and Fridays focus on employability. Everything is free and built around lived experience.

Our support is about reducing isolation, building confidence, and helping people feel seen. The anonymous Zoom group, initial supported by Community Foundation for Merseyside has run nearly every Wednesday for five years, over 4,000 people have joined it.

Funding remains a challenge. Too often it’s short-term, but the Community Foundation for Merseyside backed us when nobody else would. They understood the mental health crisis during the pandemic and supported us through it. We’re eternally grateful, they helped us turn belief into impact.

I don’t need an alarm clock anymore. My motivation to help others wakes me up.”

The stories from Alan, Kirsty, and Phil are just a few among many. They show the difference that compassionate, community-led support can make, and how vital it is that this work continues.