In March, we were honoured to win the Markel 3rd Sector Care Award – Making a Difference category. This recognition means a great deal, not only to me personally but to the hundreds of veterans, families and community members who walk through the doors of our centres each year. Winning the award is a celebration of resilience, community spirit and the power of grassroots action. It is also a reminder of the long journey that has brought us here.
How it all began
The reason that led to Anxious Minds being founded was born out of desperation as much as inspiration. After 22 years of service in the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, including tours of Northern Ireland and Iraq, I left the Army in 2006. My transition into civilian life was far from smooth. Like so many others, I struggled with combat-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which slowly eroded my ability to function. At my lowest point, after a marriage breakdown and a failed attempt to access timely NHS mental health support, I found myself homeless.
It was only through my War Pension that I managed to find shelter in a second-hand caravan. From there, I began to rebuild, not just for myself, but for others like me. I hired a small community centre room and invited others struggling with mental health to meet. Instead of talking about our illnesses, we focused on recovery, resilience and what a positive future might look like. That small act of connection was the seed from which Anxious Minds would later grow.
Getting off the ground
Those early peer-support groups, called Let’s Talk, expanded quickly. Within months, we were running 10 groups across Newcastle and North Tyneside. Every penny came out of my pension, but the impact was undeniable – veterans and people from the wider community were regaining hope and confidence.
In 2016, we formally registered Anxious Minds as a charity. With support from the National Lottery, we were able to grow our services beyond peer support. Today, we run four centres across the North East including an outdoor therapy centre in Northumberland providing counselling, trauma and abuse support, addiction recovery, and crisis interventions for both veterans and the wider community.
What Anxious Minds does
Anxious Minds is perhaps best known for its Veterans Recovery College, and community mental health services in the North East, which support over 200 ex-service personnel each year and over 2,000 people from the wider community. We also employ 24 counsellors, many of whom are veterans themselves, and deliver therapy programmes tailored to trauma, anxiety and depression.
Our Veterans and Community Kitchen in Wallsend serves around 18,000 meals a year, tackling food poverty head-on while also providing a safe, welcoming environment where people can connect. Alongside that, our employment support programmes have helped over 500 people, veterans and civilians alike, find meaningful work.
Our philosophy is simple – mental health recovery does not happen in isolation. It requires practical support, whether that is food, housing, counselling or community. For many, the kitchen meal is the gateway into further support. For others, outdoor activities like mountain biking or woodland skills at our Prudhoe site become the turning point in their recovery journey.
Challenges along the way
The challenges have been significant. One of the hardest realities has been the lack of long-term, sustainable funding for grassroots organisations like ours. National charities receive substantial support, but local projects, where the most direct impact often happens, must fight for every pound.
Another challenge has been the sheer scale of need. In 2021, there were 253 veteran suicides in England and Wales. Behind every statistic is a family, a community and a future cut short. We see daily the toll that untreated trauma and poverty can take. Balancing demand with resources remains a constant struggle.
Despite these hurdles, we have grown stronger each year. By keeping overheads low, relying heavily on volunteers and reinvesting every grant or donation directly into services, we have created a model that maximises impact. Personally, I remain a volunteer Chief Executive Officer, still living on my war pension, to ensure that funds always go where they are needed most.
Outcomes and impact
The outcomes we have seen are both humbling and inspiring. Veterans who once felt broken have found new purpose. Families facing crisis have rediscovered stability. Local people in poverty have been able to access meals, warmth and community. One veteran told us, ‘When I came to Anxious Minds, I was a broken man after years of severe anxiety and insomnia. After 12 sessions, I was given the tools to help me live.’
Beyond individual stories, the numbers speak for themselves:
- 2,000+ people supported every year with mental health, crisis intervention and community projects.
- 150 people a week accessing counselling across our hubs.
- 500 people into employment last year alone.
- 18,000 meals served annually to veterans and local families.
But perhaps the most powerful outcome is harder to measure – the sense of belonging and hope that people find when they walk through our doors.
Looking ahead
Winning the Markel 3rd Sector Care Award has given us both recognition and renewed motivation. Our vision is to continue expanding our reach, particularly through partnerships with the NHS and other recovery colleges. We want to see long-term investment in grassroots mental health support so that no one falls through the cracks as I once did.
The next step for Anxious Minds is to strengthen our infrastructure, secure sustainable funding and build on our outdoor therapy work, which has been transformative for so many. We also hope to expand our children’s trauma counselling services, ensuring the next generation has access to early intervention support.
A personal reflection
On a personal level, this journey has been life changing. I still live with PTSD. I still have days of palpitations and panic. But Anxious Minds gives me a purpose and that purpose is to make sure no veteran, no family and no individual in our community is left to struggle alone. The Markel 3rd Sector Care Award is a recognition of the whole team – our staff, volunteers, trustees, partners and the thousands of people who put their trust in us. Together, we have built something that started with one man in a caravan and has grown into a lifeline for many.
Nominations for the Markel 3rd Sector Care Awards 2026 close on Friday 7th November 2025! Whether you excel in innovative dementia care or run a group enriching lives in your local community, there is a category for you or someone you know. Click here for more information and to nominate today!
Eddie Dean is Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Anxious Minds. Email: [email protected] X: @MindsAnxious