From Doorsteps to a Movement: The Story of FundaMENTALLY Healthy

You shouldn’t have to be in crisis to understand your mental health.

What if you didn’t have to be in crisis to understand your mental health?

This Didn’t Start in a Training Room. It Started on Doorsteps.

In 2020, during the height of the pandemic, this didn’t begin as a programme.

It began with one person, a backpack, and a question.

At the time, I was working in locum roles supporting the NHS through the pandemic — witnessing first-hand the pressure mental health services were under. I saw the thresholds. The waiting lists. The risk assessments. The reality of a system built to respond when people were already at breaking point.

Alongside that work, I was walking.

Backpack strapped on. Resources inside. Door to door. Garden to garden. Living room to living room.

On behalf of First Person Project, I was trying to prove something: that socially progressive mental health support could exist outside of crisis-led systems. That professional, grounded mental health education could be offered on someone’s doorstep — without referral, without escalation, without judgement.

And something became clear very quickly.

If you wanted access to fundamental mental health education within statutory services, you often had to be in crisis.

You had to be a risk. To yourself. Or to someone else.

Only then would you be offered the basics — a toolkit of coping strategies and skill-building exercises. Valuable tools, yes. But prescribed reactively. Contained within a system that intervenes once harm is already present.

It didn’t feel preventative. It didn’t feel empowering. It didn’t feel enough.

So we redesigned it.

What started as one person walking door to door became a shared effort. Conversations grew. Trust grew. The idea grew. And somewhere along the way, this stopped being I and became we.

Together, we rebuilt the toolkit through the First Person Project philosophy — embedding psychosocial education, community language, shared learning and prevention at its core.

That work became Resilient Minds.

Over time, shaped by hundreds — then thousands — of participants, it evolved into what is now FundaMENTALLY Healthy.

A Community Movement — Not a Short-Term Project

FundaMENTALLY Healthy has been running since 2020.

It has undergone revision. It has been renamed. It has been adapted across neighbourhoods and specialist populations. It has reached literally thousands of people.

Between September 2024 and September 2025, The National Lottery Community Fund supported a delivery phase of the programme — and we are genuinely grateful for that investment.

But this work did not begin with funding. And it does not end with it.

In fact, in 2023–2024, the model was strong enough to be commissioned by the NHS.

The very system where the original tension had been observed recognised the value of what had been built. The commissioned delivery went incredibly well — demonstrating that prevention-focused, socially progressive mental health education can sit alongside statutory services without losing its integrity.

That matters.

Because it shows this isn’t oppositional. It’s complementary. It’s additive. It strengthens systems by strengthening people before crisis escalates.

Why It Exists

We believe something simple but important:

You shouldn’t have to be in crisis to understand your mental health.

Mental health education should not be gated by risk. Psychosocial skills should not be prescribed only when things fall apart. Communities should not have to wait until harm escalates before they are supported.

FundaMENTALLY Healthy exists to shift that.

It provides foundational mental health education. It builds psychosocial skills. It develops confidence and shared language. It strengthens connection between people.It embeds prevention within communities.

It is structured — but not clinical.

Educational — but not academic.

Evidence-informed — but human.

And crucially, it now belongs to the community that shaped it.

What to Expect

FundaMENTALLY Healthy typically runs over several weekly sessions in a small group setting.

You can expect:

• Honest, grounded conversations about stress, anxiety, confidence and emotional wellbeing

• Practical psychosocial tools that translate into everyday life

• Space to reflect — without pressure to disclose

• A relaxed, welcoming environment

• Experienced facilitators who remain human and accessible

• A focus on empowerment, not dependency

• The opportunity to gain a Level 2 Mental Health qualification

• as well as much more

You do not need to be in crisis. You do not need a referral. You do not need a diagnosis.

You simply need to be willing to engage and please be polite.

Many people leave with stronger confidence, clearer language and a deeper sense of connection — not just to themselves, but to others.

So Why Are We Talking About This Now?

After five years. After thousands engaged. After NHS commissioning. After proven adaptability and growth.

Attendance is harder to build than it once was.

We are being open about that.

Perhaps the mental health conversation has become crowded. Perhaps prevention is harder to sell than crisis. Perhaps we have been too modest in telling the story.

But one thing has not changed:

Waiting until crisis is too late.....The thresholds remain.....The need remains.....The value of prevention remains.

Built as a Social Enterprise — For the People, With the People

First Person Project is a proud social enterprise.

That matters.

It means we don’t exist to extract. We exist to reinvest.

We earn with the left hand. And reinvest with the right.

Every commissioned piece of work. Every partnership. Every contract.

It all feeds back into community-rooted mental health education and support.

FundaMENTALLY Healthy is not a product. It’s not a revenue stream. It’s not a short-term funded output.

It is part of a wider commitment to socially progressive mental health — where sustainability and community impact sit side by side.

Being a social enterprise means we hold two things at once:

Professional credibility. Community accountability.

It means we can be commissioned by the NHS — and still walk door to door. It means we can work within systems — without becoming absorbed by them. It means when we grow, the community grows.

FOR THE PEOPLE. And with the people.

That has always been the point.

This Is Your Invitation

If you believe mental health education should be accessible before crisis — this is for you.

If you want to build confidence and understanding in a way that empowers rather than medicalises — this is for you.

If you believe communities grow stronger when they share language, skills and spaces — this is for you.

FundaMENTALLY Healthy began with a backpack and a question.

It became a collective. It became a movement. It became commissioned. It continues because the work is not finished.

We are currently ongoing -

No referral. No waiting list. Just turn up. Be you.

Let’s continue building something that makes crisis the exception — not the gateway.

Thank you for reading.

Matty Caine

Founder/Chief Executive Officer