A MENTAL health charity has been praised by a Bolton MP.

Sir David Crausby, MP for Bolton North East, visited MhIST (Mental Health Independent Support Team) yesterday (Monday January 21).

MhIST was recently awarded half a million pounds of National Lottery funding to create a number of community mental health facilitator posts. Each post holder will be trained to provide peer-to-peer support to members of the project.

During his visit the MP was given a tour of the project by Melvin Bradley, CEO of MhIST, and Christine Makinson, the project’s self-help group manager

Sir David said: “This is an amazing organisation that is serving the local community. MhIST offers a safe space for people in the local area dealing with mental ill health to speak to others going through the same thing.

"I know that politicians need to do more to deliver quality mental health support to everyone who needs it, but I’m delighted to see the great work that MhIST are doing in Bolton.”

Taking a holistic approach to mental health, the charity also runs self-help groups, counselling sessions, and mindfulness meditation led by people with personal experience of dealing with mental health issues.

Ms Makinson added: “It was great to have the opportunity to show Sir David Crausby around the project and let him know the important work we do.

"He was thoroughly impressed by our approach to support people with mental health problems. Many of the self-help groups we offer are run by people with personal experience of mental illness.

"This new funding will allow us to expand the scope of our work by training up community mental health facilitators. These volunteers will help people in their local community dealing with mental health issues as well as engaging with the community."