Ginny Idehen is the new CEO of Mid and North East Essex Mind.
She has a background in helping others and has found her niche in supporting others with their mental wellbeing.
- Tell us a little about your business…
Mid and North East Essex Mind is the local Mind mental health charity. We support a wide range of communities from Chelmsford to Colchester, plus rural areas and seaside towns. We deliver support services to help people with their mental wellbeing.
2. How did you get into the industry?
I’ve always worked in sectors that help others. When I was starting out in my career, I provided small business advice to business owners in Suffolk, I was their youngest ever Business Advisor and loved supporting local businesses. I then joined Suffolk Mind in 2016 and learnt so much about mental health and wellbeing. It opened a new world to me, and I was fascinated to discover more about how I could help myself and the people around me with their mental wellbeing.
3. What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
Our biggest challenge is keeping up with the demand for mental health services. We’ve come out of a pandemic, where everyone’s lives were turned upside down and we’re still facing the consequences of this. We’re also in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, so it’s tough for a lot of people. When we’re all faced with situations that affect our security and emotional wellbeing, our ability to cope and manage is much harder – so we’re busy!
But challenges also bring opportunities. Because there is such a demand for our services, we’re working hard to build resilience in communities. We want to offer support services that enable people to teach themselves, and the people around them, how to look after their mental wellbeing.
4. How would you describe your leadership style?
I’m very honest with my team, as I often don’t have the answers! I bring people together who have the necessary knowledge and skills. I’m supportive – I’m good at defining a vision and taking people on a journey with me to bring about strong outcomes.
5. How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
Collaboration and communication are key. I’m very keen on ensuring all employees know why they’re here and what the organisation stands for. It helps staff to connect to what they’re doing and helps to create a shared passion for all.
6. What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
It’s essential that we run smoothly. There’s an expectation of what a local Mind charity’s services should be like, and we have the Mind Quality Mark to adhere to that ensures we are delivering a high-quality service. We’re experiencing high growth in the services we offer, so we must make sure each touchpoint meets our exacting standards.
We’re also a standalone organisation from national Mind and rely on grants and donations to run our services. Our fundraising and corporate teams are core to our success, if we didn’t have the funds, we wouldn’t be able to serve our local communities.
7. How has the past 12 months been for you?
I joined Mid and North East Essex Mind on 9 August 2023 and it’s been a rollercoaster! We’ve gone on a journey of transformation. It’s been great to get to know everyone, listening to teams and service users and looking at ways we can develop our offer. It’s essential to ensure everyone knows and are pulling in the right direction, so we’ve created a new vision and mission which will help to align our values and the work we do moving forward.
We’ve also worked hard to deliver more services. We’ve extended the hours of our Crisis Café support to ensure no-one faces a crisis alone. We’ve also saved six Welcome Cafes from closure to offer support at the heart of our communities. Plus, we’ve started to roll out a new training product to improve workplace and community wellbeing. It’s been a busy year!
8. What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
We’ll be rolling out our new vision for the future, and we are already working on our longer-term strategy to ensure we keep ahead in an ever-evolving world. Mental health has changed so much over the past decade, so it’s vital we plan. We’ll also be looking at our partnerships with the NHS and other community providers, investigating our impact on service users and seeing how we can support more.
9. What are the highlights of your career so far?
Apart from becoming the CEO of Mid and North East Essex Mind last year, which is the absolute highlight of my career to date, during the pandemic, I project managed a story book ‘Sammy the Sea Squirt’ to help primary school children manage their mental health. The project was a huge success and we secured funding to ensure every schoolchild in reception year in Suffolk received a free copy. The picture book was a story that explained to young children (and their parents) the importance of moving for good mental health. It was a really fun project to be involved with.
I’m also very proud to have volunteered as Chair of Suffolk Businesswomen; I was the second chair in the group’s history. I love working with local businesses and I’m currently enjoying setting-up opportunities with the business community in Essex.
10. What’s the biggest mistake that you’ve learnt from?
I have been fortunate to have the opportunity to be a board member, a trustee, and a school governor. These volunteering opportunities were fantastic for me in not only increasing my own knowledge and skills but also by giving me an opportunity to give back. The biggest mistake I made was not realising that I could do this sooner in my life. I had always assumed that charities and businesses needed very experienced people to sit on boards. What I learnt is that there are huge benefits to a board having diversity and especially when it comes to multi generations. I would tell my younger self to – go for it a lot sooner.
11. What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
When I look back on my career, I spent so much time worrying about what other people thought about me. But I did receive some great advice: ‘people aren’t thinking about you’. It wasn’t meant horribly; it was just said to make me realise no one cares what you’re wearing or going out of their way to think negatively about you. It was really liberating and a good reminder: don’t try and be someone you think you ought to be. Simply do a good job and be true to your values.
