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The Mix and Mental Health Innovations come together to supercharge digital mental health support

TheMix

Hey everyone,

We have some exciting news to share with you all.

We are pleased to announce that The Mix will be merging with Mental Health Innovations, the charity that oversees Shout, the 24/7 mental health text service.

What exactly is a merger?
A merger is when two charities come together to form as one charity.

It has always been our ambition to expand the reach of mental health support we can give to young people across the UK via our digital products and services. This exciting new partnership gives us the opportunity to build on the millions of young people we support each year, no matter what they’re going through.

What does this mean for The Mix's services?
The Mix and Shout continue to be the UK’s leading digital support services and, together, we’ll provide a new ecosystem of free, 24/7 mental health support reaching millions more young people struggling with their wellbeing.

Our focus will be on early intervention as we continue to grow our online community and online resources and provide more volunteering opportunities for young people to help one another. Our existing counselling service and self-paced learning modules will be joined by the growth of an upcoming chatbot service and 1-2-1 peer support service.

With two of the leading organisations for young people now joining forces, the future has never looked brighter for the lives and wellbeing of each and every young person in the UK. With our combined expertise, knowledge and greater reach, we can continue to keep young people at the heart of everything we do and create an even more inclusive, compassionate and impactful service for anyone under the age of 25.

What does this mean for The Mix's support groups and discussion boards?
With our charities merging and more teams working together to focus on early intervention, you'll see some exciting improvements to our community spaces over the next little while. These improvements will focus on improving the quality of support from our services and accessibility which help more young people reach out for support as a form of early intervention.

When we look to make improvements, we'll open up opportunities to help us co-design our services and explore how we can improve them together. We'll be sure to keep you all updated and involved in our plans for the community

Where can I ask a question?
The Community Team and Chris, CEO of The Mix, are here to answer any questions you might have about the merger. Feel free to post your questions in this thread or use our anonymous form. We’ll be responding to the comments over the next few weeks.

If you’re feeling worried about this update or would like to leave feedback, please do also get in touch by commenting on this post, completing our feedback form, or sending us a DM.

You can also read our full press release over on our website for more information about this update.

- Aoife, Mike, Ella, & Gemma

[Posted updated on 19/08/24 to add an answer to the question about The Mix's community services]

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Aoife

Chloe234 wrote: »

Is this gonna effect place like here on the boards and the evening chats on chatwee? Or is it gonna be the same you're just enhancing more support through the chatbot and 1-2-1 service?

Great question @Chloe234

We're planning everything to be the same for our support groups and discussion boards. We'll continue running everything as usual. Our new service will be the 1-2-1 peer support service and also improvements to our chatbot and e-learning courses.

You can read a bit more about our 1-2-1 peer support service over on our website here - https://www.themix.org.uk/news-and-research/news/what-is-peer-to-peer-the-mixs-new-service-launches-august-2024

Any other questions, do let us know

Dancer

So is the community side staying the same but the helpline changing?

Aoife

Thank you for your question @Dancer

For now our discussion boards and support groups will stay the same as we focus on transitioning our helpline service to a new 1-2-1 peer support service.

To add a bit more to both your questions @Chloe234 and @Dancer, The Mix is moving into an early intervention space so we can help lots of young people as early as possible before they reach crisis. With our charities merging and more teams working together, you'll see some exciting improvements to our community spaces over the next little while. These improvements will focus on improving the quality of support from our services and accessibility which help more young people reach out for support as a form of early intervention.

When we look to make improvements, we'll open up opportunities to help us co-design our services and explore how we can improve them together. We'll be sure to keep you all updated and involved in our plans for the community

Rhys

Exciting stuff, especially with a focus on early intervention, a process I went through back in 2012 ish (for the standard 3 years)

I look forward to seeing what the future holds. Also congrats on the merger.
I do have a smol question, will the familiar staff faces be staying ??

Laura_tigger82

They should be @Rhys - just additional faces if anything (this applies to us as volunteers too!). No one can get rid of me here

River

@Laura_tigger82 glad ur sticking around

we would of had to petitioned if not

Rhys

Laura_tigger82 wrote: »

They should be @Rhys - just additional faces if anything (this applies to us as volunteers too!). No one can get rid of me here

Im glad, I may not visit often, and been many many years since i moderated here, but i do like checking in every so often :>

Laura_tigger82

We appreciate you as a valuable community member too @Rhys!

AnonymousToe

TheMix wrote: »

you'll see some exciting improvements to our community spaces over the next little while. These improvements will focus on improving the quality of support from our services and accessibility which help more young people reach out for support as a form of early intervention.

Improvements? Nobody’s going to reach out for support now.
https://community.themix.org.uk/discussion/3606448/age-verification-upcoming-change
I’ll be leaving right away if this photo thing gets implemented for current users, but I doubt I’ll be staying much longer anyway. I need support, and having this place to reach out has been a big help to me. I’m so grateful for everything this site used to be. But it doesn’t seem like a safe place anymore. I’m putting off leaving but soon enough I’m just gonna have to learn to cope without it.

shannon_164

all i’m thinking is when exactly are we going to see the improvements…? i’m really struggling to think of something that has happened post merger that is an improvement because i don’t think things like:

-several mods & community members leaving through choice as they disagree with how the mix operates now or because they’ve been forced to suddenly due to their age

-chats being cancelled more than what they are on at this point, most often last minute too and due to ‘mod availability’ which yes could be the case on occasions 100% BUT this week for example, every single night of chats all mods just suddenly had unforeseen circumstances? i don’t think so

-the age verification thing, that’s going to create a barrier for many trying to access support, and it’s super understandable that a lot of people will not feel comfortable using a photo of themselves to join a so called anonymous site

-the implementation of policies e.g. people having to leave the mix due to their age, however, the policy cannot be shared with us yet as it’s not actually fully developed and finalised…? you CANNOT enforce policies that are not finalised

-not necessarily a new thing as it happed before the merger too, but the amount of inconsistencies that occur and how one person sharing something on boards / in chat is ok but for someone else, no no no it’s not ok

-i’m assuming the merger is what has affected it, but the closing of the helpline to change it to 1-1 peer support that was due to launch august 2024, well it’s near enough august 2025 now and where is it? or even further info about it, it’s like trying to solve a crime looking for info!!!

-it was said in a chat about mods not being able to use emojis anymore, how silly is that now? it’s 2025, quite literally every single person, especially in the age group that the mix serve uses emojis…

i could go on for longer, but i don’t have the time lol but yeah, im not sure any of these things count as an improvement…?

Faolan

-it was said in a chat about mods not being able to use emojis anymore, how silly is that now? it’s 2025, quite literally every single person, especially in the age group that the mix serve uses emojis…

What omg😂😂😂 wait, really? Did they say why?

Also ya you’re right about the mod availability thing & I looked at their volunteer for us page and they’re not currently recruiting more mods which is weird. Surely we need more😂 the option to volunteer for shout is open though

@shannon_164

shannon_164

@Faolan the reasoning was because emojis can be taken in the wrong way - like yes that is true, however, words can be taken in the wrong way too at the end of the day sooo maybe mods won’t be allowed to speak in chats either soon🤣it’s 2025, emojis are a super common thing to be used, and especially in a site that supports this age group too lol

Faolan

😂😂😂 @shannon_164
thank God they’re tackling the real mental health crisis…….emojis. Never mind underfunded services, long wait times, and actual distress. Nope, the real danger was clearly a well placed 😂. Truly, a brave and necessary step. Thank you the mix, you stopped this just in time before it caused irreversible emotional damage🥰

independent_

I wonder if the emoji thing is to do with the “data driven” model that shout use for their service? Former shout volunteer here, but we weren’t allowed to use emojis either. Partly because they can be misinterpreted, but also partly because they can look different on different devices. It’s fair enough in a 1-1 support setting like shout, but it feels impersonal in a community setting like this.

I have to say, as a shout volunteer I was very well supported. Their volunteer support team were incredible. If shout (which is part of the same charity) can do it, why can’t the mix? I have also looked at the volunteer recruitment page and seen there’s no openings to become a mod, and there haven’t been for a long time. This is not new either. But we were once told (possibly pre merger) that new mods were being recruited when there was no opening on the volunteer page.

shannon_164

fully agree with @independent_ !! as a current volunteer with shout, i can confirm their support and care for volunteers is incredible so it doesn’t make sense how the support for volunteers at the mix appears to be so different…?

ella

Hello @Faolan @shannon_164 -

For clarity, as a staff team and wider organisation we have not banned the use of emojis by moderators. Please may we ask where this information was first heard?

While it is of course important that emojis are used in an appropriate and boundaried way by our moderators when supporting Community members, they are also a fantastic way to communicate, emote, and offer emotional support!

We certainly do not intend to put a stop to this, and you will see that Staff members and moderators do continue to use emojis, as well as emojis remaining available to yourselves as service-users.

Internally, our discussions about using emojis have been more related to ensuring clear and respectful communication, including using emojis in appropriate contexts. If you are hearing news of a ban however, please may you let us know where this information is coming from so we're able to clarify?

Faolan

ella wrote: »

Hello @Faolan @shannon_164 -

For clarity, as a staff team and wider organisation we have not banned the use of emojis by moderators. Please may we ask where this information was first heard?

While it is of course important that emojis are used in an appropriate and boundaried way by our moderators when supporting Community members, they are also a fantastic way to communicate, emote, and offer emotional support!

We certainly do not intend to put a stop to this, and you will see that Staff members and moderators do continue to use emojis, as well as emojis remaining available to yourselves as service-users.

Internally, our discussions about using emojis have been more related to ensuring clear and respectful communication, including using emojis in appropriate contexts. If you are hearing news of a ban however, please may you let us know where this information is coming from so we're able to clarify?

Thank God😂😂 I’ve not heard anything other than this above there @ella thanks for clarifying

shannon_164

@ella i agree 100% that the use of emojis should be allowed - i was confused about how it was said in a chat about mods being discouraged from using emojis yet you see staff & mods on boards using emojis still. i was just sharing what was said in the chat, unfortunately i cannot remember which chat it was that this was said in as my head as mush at the moment with college, work & training - this is not at all a case of me trying to create issues, as use have claimed untrue things in the past about me therefore i now feel the need to ensure that it is known that i am NOT attempting to create issues, i, just like many other members here are frustrated with all the changes and had seen in a chat about the mods being discouraged from using emojis - i hope i’ve made it clear that it was not an intention to create issues

Sian321

Hi @shannon_164 , thank you for clarifying here, and I can assure you that we're certainly not accusing you of trying to create issues here. You were worried, and that is valid.

We're mindful there have been a lot of changes to navigate, as discussed in this thread above, and we see the stress and frustration that some of these changes (including our communications around the changes) have brought up. We want to take accountability of where we can be doing better.

And that's why, we felt curious about where news of a ban on emojis had come from as it hasn't been a part of our official training or internal talks with our volunteers. It's okay that you don't remember which chat this was shared it. We just wanted to make sure we were being clear

Rest assured that our emojis remain!

Hope that helps!

shannon_164

thank you @Sian321

- there was definitely a mod in a chat that stated about mods being discouraged from using emojis after a community member noticed the lack of emojis being used, and that chat itself felt so cold i guess as a result.

Katie

Hey @shannon_164 @Faolan @independent_ and everyone else here

I just wanted to jump in here because I just did a little bit of digging around where this communication about mods not being able to use emojis might've come come.

We've had a couple of isolated events over the last few months of emojis not working for some chat users. The team looked into it each time and found emojis worked fine so we're not entirely sure why this tech issue was happening. Emojis should work for all chat users so if anyone finds they're not working, please get into contact with the team and we'll look into it (DM @TheMix or email community@themix.org.uk). And for some reassurance, if we were making any changes that would affect your experiences using our services, we would let you know about them

I think this tech issue paired with some miscommunication about some recent training our moderators have had might've led some users to believe mods could no longer use emojis. Rest assured, this isn't the case. Just to repeat what @ella said above, our recent training for volunteers covered ensuring emojis are used appropriately, but we have no plans of removing emojis or telling our moderators they can't use them.

Emojis still remain folks

:'(

Redemption

Katie wrote: »

Hey @shannon_164 @Faolan @independent_ and everyone else here I just wanted to jump in here because I just did a little bit of digging around where this communication about mods not being able to use emojis might've come come.

We've had a couple of isolated events over the last few months of emojis not working for some chat users. The team looked into it each time and found emojis worked fine so we're not entirely sure why this tech issue was happening. Emojis should work for all chat users so if anyone finds they're not working, please get into contact with the team and we'll look into it (DM @TheMix or email community@themix.org.uk). And for some reassurance, if we were making any changes that would affect your experiences using our services, we would let you know about them

I think this tech issue paired with some miscommunication about some recent training our moderators have had might've led some users to believe mods could no longer use emojis. Rest assured, this isn't the case. Just to repeat what @ella said above, our recent training for volunteers covered ensuring emojis are used appropriately, but we have no plans of removing emojis or telling our moderators they can't use them.

Emojis still remain folks :'(

@Katie I like how you put loads of emojis haha

independent_

I also love the irony of the amount of emojis in that post!

I don’t think I was in the chat where this was discussed so I don’t remember. Emojis that are built into chatwee have never worked with my screen reader, but the windows and apple ones do as do the boards ones. A well placed emoji can just make the person seem a bit more approachable if that makes sense, so I’m glad we’re still using them

(or <£, as i often type by accident)

River

@independent_ it was mentioned in circle about the emoji thing