About Us

What We Do

  • Prevent isolation by providing opportunities for people to meet others, share experiences and gain mutual support.
  • Run free support groups weekly which require no booking or commitment, just turn up.
  • Teach people about mental health, improving knowledge and understanding.
  • Discuss mental health services and consult decision-makers in order to make improvements. 
  • Build relationships between service users, clinicians and other professionals.
  • Promote well-being, striving to prevent illness. 

Our Values

Led by Lived Experience:

We value and listen to each person’s unique lived experience to deliver support grounded in our philosophy, whilst ensuring our Charity remains focused on growing to meet the needs of the people who join our community.

Involve to Empower:

We involve people with lived experience at all levels of the Organisation to empower them to use their experience in new and meaningful ways to move towards the lives they want to live.

Collaboration:

We work with external partners to ensure the voice of people with lived experience is at the heart of the all conversations in the mental health and social care economies across Bury and Greater Manchester.

Safety, Mutuality & Choice:

We provide spaces which are safe and allow people to connect and build relationships based on mutuality, respect, trust, and hope, whilst supporting people’s right to have choice and control in their own lives.

Trustworthiness & Transparency:

We aim to be clear and straightforward, open and transparent in everything we do.

Our History

BIG has a short but proud history. Established in 2007 by mental health service users BIG functioned as an independent ear, sounding board and voice for local people who use mental health services. We connected people together to feed back their experiences to commissioners. When it comes to what does and doesn’t work on the ground, understanding people’s experiences is vital to improving the service offered to the people of Bury. In 2012 BIG secured funding which enabled us to expand our service to provide a range of free and accessible peer support groups, which provide people with safe, welcoming spaces focused on recovery. The support we offer is, predominately, provided by volunteers with lived experience of a mental health condition.

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