Pharmacist Support sees large increase in mental health service use

Pharmacist Support is the profession's independent charity and we've just released our 2022 Impact Report which details our achievements of last year. The report shows significant increases in demand for our counselling support and financial assistance, as well as increased engagement in our wellbeing campaign activities. Our Chair of Trustees, Esther Sadler-Williams, says: “It has been critical that we were able to respond and adapt quickly to our pharmacy family's needs, which is something we are particularly proud of.”

In 2022, thanks to continued funding from the COVID-19 Health Support Appeal (CHSA), we were able to increase the number of counselling sessions individuals were able to access. This means in total across the year we provided 911 funded counselling sessions – a 214% increase on 2021 figures. During 2022 our charity also launched phase two of our website development and customer relationship management system, enabling us to reach and support more individuals. Through these developments our beneficiaries can now access a wealth of information and self-refer for a range of services via our website, which includes the ability to submit a grant application via our secure portal. By December 2022, compared to 2021 we experienced a 44% increase in the number of grants awarded to people in the profession in need of financial assistance. In addition, Pharmacist Support's now well established annual ACTNow wellbeing campaign has gone from strength to strength, with signups across our three targeted campaign periods up 49%, and social media engagement with the campaign up 197% compared to 2021. 

To manage this growing demand, in 2022 we focused our efforts on increasing income and developing our volunteer base. The way in which we fundraise has changed significantly since 2020, with our team now focused on working with key partners across the profession. In a similar way, Pharmacist Support has been developing new ways of engaging volunteers to support our work. 

We recognise that as a small charity, we couldn't achieve all that we have alone. It is thanks to the dedication of our growing pool of amazing volunteers, and the support of our partners and donors that all of this has been possible. Through these valuable relationships we have been able to raise awareness of our charitable support, and to develop and deliver our support offering. In 2022 we experienced a 36% increase in the value of our corporate donations and in particular would like to recognise the ongoing support of the PDA and Teva UK. Also partnering with us to develop our wellbeing activities in 2022 were Boots, Well Pharmacy and Day Lewis, as well as a host of other organisations, including The Pharmacy Show, whose support enabled us to reach many more individuals. 

Our Impact Report also highlights the importance of and our reliance on income from individuals such as Joy Wingfield, whose generous legacy enabled us to deliver even greater impact. Joy Wingfield was one of the UK's leading figures in Pharmacy Law and Ethics. She gave immense support to her profession during her life and continues to support her peers through leaving a legacy to Pharmacist Support in her will. Thanks to Joy's gift, this facilitated our ability during 2022 to meet the increasing demand for wellbeing support. This remains something we are having to address as funding from the CHSA has ended and demand for our counselling support continues to rise. We encourage anyone reading this to consider leaving a gift to our charity in their Will to help us to continue to support our pharmacy family now and into the future.

To read our 2022 Impact Report in full or to leave a gift to Pharmacist Support in your will, please visit www.pharmacistsupport.org. Thank you.