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About us

Mental health is part of everyday life.

It shapes how we live, work, learn, parent, create, compete and relate to one another. It should not be treated as a private weakness, a source of shame, or something discussed only at crisis point.

Where stigma is strongest, help arrives last.

In culturally conservative societies and diaspora communities, the cost of being seen to struggle can feel higher than the cost of struggling. Families worry, but the language is missing. Concern comes out as advice, or as silence. People who know they need help often have no idea where credible help can be found.

We want to change not only how individuals think about mental health, but how families, workplaces, media and governments respond to it.

Our mission

To make mental health a mainstream social priority, particularly in communities where stigma, cultural expectations and limited access to support prevent people from seeking help.

We bring together public figures, mental-health professionals, educators, employers, policymakers and people with lived experience to build a culture in which asking for help is understood as awareness, not weakness.

A mother and father holding their young child among autumn trees

Our vision

A world where mental health belongs in every conversation. A world where:

  • Talking about mental health is ordinary.
  • Seeking professional help carries no shame.
  • Young people learn mental-health literacy early.
  • Families know where to find credible support.
  • Employers treat psychological wellbeing as a leadership responsibility.
  • Governments treat mental health as a public priority.

What we believe

  1. 1

    Mental health is health.

    It deserves the same seriousness, compassion and attention as physical health.

  2. 2

    Asking for help is strength.

    Recognising that you need support is an act of awareness.

  3. 3

    Culture matters.

    Mental-health conversations cannot be copied from one society and transplanted into another. They must understand language, faith, family and community.

  4. 4

    Before crisis, not after.

    Prevention should not wait for an emergency, and awareness without access to support is not enough.

  5. 5

    Institutions carry responsibility.

    Schools, employers, sporting bodies and governments shape the environments people live in. They have a part in making them healthier.

  6. 6

    Lived experience belongs in the conversation.

    The people who have been through it should help shape how society understands it.

A diverse group of friends smiling together for a photograph outdoors

Starting where the need is greatest.

Our first focus is South Asian communities and the global South Asian diaspora, the world of sport, and the faith and community spaces where families first turn for help. The model is built to travel across countries, cultures and faiths, combining universal mental-health principles with culturally intelligent communication.

Mental-health challenges are universal. The way societies talk about them is not.

How we will grow

We are building in five stages, each one laying the ground for the next.

  1. Awareness and influence. Build a visible public conversation through campaigns, storytelling and trusted voices.
  2. Fundraising and partnerships. Bring individuals, companies, foundations and public figures together to fund the work.
  3. Access and infrastructure. Build the networks and directories that connect people to credible support.
  4. Education and workplaces. Take the work into schools, universities, clubs and organisations.
  5. Policy and systems. Use evidence and partnerships to push for institutional and policy reform.

We are currently at stage one, building the public conversation through four programmes: ABHI SE, OFF THE PITCH, UNKAHI and PUKAR.

Measuring what matters

Attention is easy to count. Change is harder. We will report what our work achieves: shifts in attitudes towards seeking help, people connected to support, schools, clubs and workplaces reached, and policy recommendations adopted. Not simply how many people saw a campaign.

Need help now?

If you are in immediate danger

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, contact your local emergency services now.

United Kingdom

  • 999Emergency services, if a life is at risk.
  • 111NHS 111. Choose the mental health option for urgent help.
  • 116 123Samaritans. Free, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
  • Text SHOUT to 85258Shout. Free, confidential, 24/7 text support.

Pakistan

  • 1122Rescue 1122 emergency service.

India

  • 14416 or 1-800-891-4416Tele-MANAS, the national mental-health helpline. Free, 24/7, in multiple languages.
Full list of support numbers

Minds at Peace is an awareness, advocacy and support-access organisation. It is not an emergency service and does not replace qualified medical or mental-health professionals.

For non-emergency concerns, consider speaking with a qualified mental-health professional. We add numbers only after checking them with the service, and our list grows as our resource directory develops.

UK numbers checked with Samaritans, the NHS and Shout. Rescue 1122 checked with the Punjab Emergency Service. Tele-MANAS checked against Government of India sources. October 2026.