Umbrella is a registered charity working in the voluntary mental health sector. The organisation was founded in 1989 to provide community mental health services in response to the closure of Friern Barnet Hospital. Since this time Umbrella has continued to work closely with commissioners in the health, social care, supported housing and supported employment sectors.  In partnership, we aim to provide and develop effective and relevant services for people with mental health needs. Details of Umbrella’s full range of service provision can be found on ‘OUR SERVICES’ page.

COMMITMENT TO QUALITY AND EFFICIENCY  

At corporate and operational levels, Umbrella maintains quality systems in order to ensure a high standard of cost effective service provision, and added value to service users:

= We work within the Excellence Model (BQF) based upon continuous improvement;

= We hold the Investor in People Award;

= We invest in training programmes and NVQs for our staff and volunteers;

= We operate within a comprehensive range of ISO based policies and procedures;

= We add value by fundraising for our Client Opportunities Fund;

= We involve service users as volunteers and across the organisation;

= We hold our core costs to on average 12% of total income.    

CONTINUAL DEVELOPMENT

It is Umbrella’s overriding strategic objective to continue to develop its services to meet current and future needs across London.  In line with national and local health and social care priorities we are committed to:

= Providing more choice in our services

= Raising the profile of mental health and combating stigma

= Including service user’s at the centre of our services

= Re-commissioning services and tendering for new provision in line with local priorities

= Working in partnership with commissioners and other service providers, including Foundation Mental Health Trusts