This week is Mental Health Awareness Week and one of Dorset's leading local mental health charities, Dorset Mind, is marking the event with the launch of a new website dorsetmind.uk.

The theme of this week is 'anxiety' and the charity has focused on making its range of one-to-one and group support, education and training as accessible as possible for people in Dorset that might live with a common mental health problem such as anxiety.

One of the key objectives to complement this was to create a clear path to urgent help via the new website, should people need it for themselves or to support someone else.

Dorset Mind is part of the Mind Network of more than 100 local branches in England and Wales. Their services include one-to-one and group services for adults and young people, education, training, and volunteer opportunities across the charity.

All services support people's mental wellbeing and aid their journey towards recovery.  

Improved website features

The overall purpose for the new website, alongside rebranding the design, was to remove barriers for people wanting to access support.

The charity tackled this by actively engaging its own service participants, ambassadors and a cross-section of people with lived experience of mental health to help inform and improve the user journey.

As a result of extensive consultation, the website's new layout succeeds in providing clearer signposting to support vulnerable people who live or study in Dorset and are experiencing mild to moderate mental health challenges.

The charity also took the important decision to merge its adult and young people's websites into one, to give people one clear platform to access information and support.

Other design features were introduced to support the user experience: integrated referral forms and application forms, an events/groups calendar and service videos.

Service videos are also available on the charity's YouTube channel, allowing people to view the films with subtitles.

Linda O'Sullivan, Dorset Mind's CEO, said: "We're delighted to unveil our website rebrand, enabling users with the tools to easily locate help and support.

"We hope this fresh design provides a positive and informative experience for young people and adults looking for information about mental health services in Dorset or seeking further opportunities to get involved with some of the amazing fundraising challenges, education, training, and volunteer opportunities we offer."

Dr Andy Mayers, patron for Dorset Mind, added: "I really like the look and feel of the new website. I especially like the very clear links for accessing help.

"I am also patron for Samaritans of Bournemouth and District, so I welcome this excellent resource for anyone in crisis or needing support."

The website was designed by global marketing agency - and Dorset Mind's charity partners - Crowd, and built by web agency, Dorset Tech.