Vistry continues its commitment to mental health with a donation to Mind

- 12 May 21

As Mental Health Awareness Week gets under way, Vistry Group is continuing its commitment to the cause by donating £30,000 to its company charity Mind. The housebuilder – featuring the Bovis and Linden Homes brands as well as Vistry Partnerships –recently conducted a major IT migration across its 3,000-strong workforce, which resulted in a substantial number of unused laptops. As well as donating a large number of these to nurseries, schools and charities, the team also sold a large number of them to a recycling centre. The money from the sale has been donated to Mind, boosting the fundraising pot for Vistry Group’s charity of the year. Chief Information Officer, Chris Pearce said: “We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to donate money to such a worthy charity. “Mental health has always been an important area to address in the construction industry, but over the past year, we’ve all been tested mentally. This is why supporting charities, like Mind, has never been so important. “The IT migration was a huge undertaking and the team did a fantastic job. It’s great that we can end the project in such a positive way by donating the spare laptops to local organisations and also giving £30,000 to Mind.” Since the start of the year, staff at Vistry Group have been fundraising for Mind, organising events such as raffles, beard-a-thons, sunflower growing competitions and virtual quizzes. As the pandemic eases and the weather improves, there are plans for larger events such as sponsored skydives and hikes. Emma Ihsan, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Mind, said: “We are incredibly grateful to Vistry for choosing to join the fight for mental health by donating to Mind this Mental Health Awareness Week. During the pandemic, millions of us have experienced a mental health problem, or seen a loved one struggle, for the first time in our lives and Mind’s services have never been more in demand. The funds donated by Vistry will help us be there for as many people who need us as possible and will help Mind to fight for change, for fairness, for respect and for life-changing support.” Vistry Group has long been an advocate of supporting mental health initiatives and has a dedicated Mental Health Committee which continues to push the company forward. It has over 100 Mental Health First Aiders throughout the company – a figure which is growing continually. During lockdown, it launched its weekly Time to Talk sessions, bringing staff across the company together to discuss topics such as homeworking, pressure, work boundaries and resilience.