Casual Minds Matter opens new shop and 'drop in' centre in Charter Walk in Burnley

Casual Minds Matter, based in Charter Walk, will use profits from the sale of its own branded goods, both in the shop and online, to pay for free mental health sessions for people in Burnley and also Pendle and Rossendale.

Dave Burnett, who is a director at Casual Minds Matter, said: “We ran a pop up shop for several weeks that was so successful we decided to make it permanent.

“We have a shop and downstairs a therapy room that will be running help sessions on a range of issues including grief, anxiety, PTSD, suicide awareness and prevention and anger management. When funding allows we hope to run more courses.”

Along with two ‘one to one’ rooms the premises also has a chill out area and an office.

Launched in January, 2022, Casual Minds Matter started out as a men’s mental health support group running one night a week in a church.

Itt was formed by five friends from Burnley, connected through the loss of someone close to them from suicide, who joined together to form a support network to banish the stigma attached to men's mental health. Since then it has evolved to become a community interest company.

Dave added: “We rely on some Lottery funding and sponsored events that people do for us as we don’t receive any money from the government or the NHS.”