Aislinn Patten is the Equality and Diversity Lead for the Mental Wealth Academy. Here she shares three fun facts about herself and tells us why she’s so passionate about helping young people.
Hi, I’m Ash and I’m based at Response, one of the seven organisations that form the Mental Wealth Academy.
Before joining the Mental Wealth Academy team, I studied Television at Falmouth University, and then took on some administrative roles for a recruitment and training provider, specialising in college and apprenticeship placements.
I also worked in several roles supporting 13-16-year-old international students within an Oxford-based summer school. I got to arrange activities and events for young people over the holidays. While working here, I realised how much I liked working with young people and their families.
“Young LGBT+ people face many additional barriers and need as much support with their mental health as possible.”
Ash, Equality and Diversity Lead, Mental Wealth Academy
I grew up in Oxford and apart from spells away studying have lived here all my life, spending many childhood summers in Ireland, where my family come from.
Outside of work I also foster my three younger siblings and have been doing so since I was 21!
I chose to work for the Mental Wealth Academy because I wanted to find a role where I could work with young people and support them with their mental health, as this is a topic that is very important to me within my personal life. I also wanted to find a role in which I could make a real difference. As a young LGBT+ person, the role as Equality and Diversity lead was the perfect fit for me.
My key interests are in the rights of LGBT+ people and more broadly in Equality and Diversity; whether that’s working with local communities and organisations to set up peer to peer support groups, participating in local Pride events and the Black Lives Matter movement.
A huge number of LGBT+ people experience mental health challenges, and more research needs to be done to explore the root causes of this. However, it is clear that discrimination, marginalisation and phobias within sections of society play a significant role in this. Young LGBT+ people face many additional barriers need as much support with their mental health as possible.
Three fun facts about me:
I have two cats called Maui and Whiskey.
I love Marvel and came out of ‘Spiderman: No Way Home’, and immediately got a Spiderman tattoo!
I have five younger sisters.
Everyone at the Mental Wealth Academy is passionate about what we do. We offer tailored support that puts you in control of the wellbeing and mental health areas that you choose to explore.
The best thing about the support we offer is that we tend to have shorter than average waiting times and can meet with you over a series of 12 weeks. This means we have time to get to know one another and build that trust, which is a crucial part of any helping relationship.
We can be flexible at wrapping around your individual needs, for example meeting online or face to face.
“We offer tailored support that puts you in control of the wellbeing and mental health areas that you choose to explore. ”
Ash, Equality and Diversity Lead, Mental Wealth Academy
We’re proud of the positive outcomes that we see among the young people we work with. Each young person sets their own pace, so that they can explore wellbeing topics on their own terms.
The Mental Wealth Academy is a partnership programme that offers non-clinical support to 16-25-year-olds experiencing mild-moderate mental health needs. The support on offer is based on cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and solution focussed therapy (SFT), which are delivered by a team of Transitional Wellbeing Practitioners.
If you’re a young person aged 16-25 experiencing mild-moderate mental health concerns or a family member who would like to support them, please get in touch with the Mental Wealth Academy, and we can arrange for one of our team to call you back.