Wiltshire Mind
Charity announced last month it would close in December, but general manager Carolyn Long says the new cash can keep it going in a smaller form
The mental health charity Wiltshire Mind has been given a reprieve, thanks to an anonymous donation of £50,000.
The charity, which provides care and support for people affected by mental health problems by means of group sessions, a counselling service and a telephone information and support line, announced in August that it would close in December because of shortfalls in funding.
The problems stemmed from the loss of local authority funding in 2010, and the charity has been running off its reserves for the past two years.
But Carolyn Long, general manager at Wiltshire Mind, said the donation, received this week, meant that the charity would be able to keep going, albeit in a smaller, restructured form.
Staff at the charity will be reduced from 12 part-timers to six. It will also reduce the number of support groups it runs from eight to four and will suspend its counselling service.
"We need to make sure that we use this donation wisely to help as many people as possible," said Long. "For this reason we will be running a streamlined service until we get fully back on our feet, which we hope will be very soon.
Long said that the running of a reduced service would also give the charity the chance to look at services and trim other costs such as overheads. Its long-term hope is to restore services to their original levels.
