SuffolkForward Network

A unique do-good, feel-good club that provides you with inspiration, tools and opportunities to help you put wellbeing at the heart of your organisation, your family and your community.

“Do good”, because you’re supporting Suffolk Mind. “Feel good” because you’ll gain information, skills, and content to help look after yourself and the people around you.

Download the brochure

A group of people sitting at a table chatting. Emotional Needs & Resources cards are laid out on the table.

Introduction

It’s a challenging time for everyone at the moment, and we want to be able to help as many people as we can. That’s why we’ve created the SuffolkForward Network.

SuffolkForward is a professional networking club that encourages lively and informative discussion around mental health, enabling us to look after ourselves and the people around us better.

Our mission is to make Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health. Right now, that means:

Making access to our counselling available for those who can’t afford to go private
or wait on an NHS waiting list
Providing schools with our training for teachers and tools for children
Giving access to The Mental Health Toolkit – our wellbeing training – to as many families, communities and individuals across Suffolk as possible

To do all those things, and much, much more, we need to raise more money than we ever have. And we need your help.

By joining this network, you not only support fundraising but also expand the vital conversations which need to take place around mental health.

Jon Neal, Chief Executive of Suffolk Mind

SuffolkForward Network is a unique professional networking club based in Suffolk. It’s designed to enable like-minded professionals to come together to learn more about how to take care of themselves and others, while making a positive and vital contribution to our county.

This is a networking club with a difference, enabling people to work together to support each other, while also raising funds to support the work of Suffolk Mind.

100% of your membership fee supports our mental health services in Suffolk.

By joining SuffolkForward, you are demonstrating your commitment to supporting and raising awareness of mental health in the county.

As a member, you are actively contributing to our ongoing mission to make
Suffolk the best place in the world for talking about and taking care of mental health.

Suffolk Mind supports thousands of people every year through our services, including community training, GreenCare, and our reception line.

Every year, the fundraising generated by the SuffolkForward Network will be used where it is most needed. For example, it could support fully-funded counselling
sessions, or expand our GreenCare service to help more people.

The funds could also to enable our service for children and young people to teach more pupils in Suffolk some practical ways to look after their mental health, as they move through primary and secondary school, and beyond into further education.

Together, we can create a happier and healthier county and nurture more resilient people to join our workplaces.

Membership fees

Memberships for 2024 have now closed. If you’d like to express your interest to be involved in our 2025 cohort, fill in this form.

Individual Member (annual)

£300 per year

One named, non-transferable space for all five networking events and an annual exclusive social, plus the additional benefits listed below.

Individual Member (monthly)

£30 per month (in 12 instalments)*

One named, non-transferable space for all five networking events and an annual exclusive social, plus the additional benefits listed below.

Organisation Member

£750 per year

Three fully-transferable spaces for all five networking events and an annual exclusive social, plus the additional benefits listed below.

SuffolkForward Network 2025 Memberships

Please fill out this form and a member of the team will be in touch in November when SuffolkForward Network memberships open for 2025.

*Please note: the price per month will be higher if joining part-way through the year.

Guests
You are welcome to bring guests along to our events, as long as they are pre-booked a minimum of 14 days in advance. (Maximum two guests per event and a per person charge will apply.)

Membership Terms
Your membership will start from January 2024 and run until December 2024. New members can sign up until Tuesday 16 April 2024 (please note: membership will be charged at full rate). After this time, we will open our Waiting List to join SuffolkForward Network in 2025.

Renewals and new memberships for 2025 will open in autumn 2024. Our team will prioritise getting in touch with existing members to renew, followed by our Waiting List.

Our full Terms and Conditions can be found here. If you have any queries, please get in touch with our Fundraising team.

In a business networking setting, a man speaks into a microphone while two other men at the table pay attention.

By joining SuffolkForward Network, you are directly supporting the work we do.

100% of membership revenue will go directly to supporting our mental health services across Suffolk.

To put that into context:

A group of people sit at a table in a conference setting, all paying attention to a speaker who is out of shot.

15 Individual Members

paying £300 could help us run our vital phone lines for 135 hours

A group of people in a networking setting are standing in clusters, talking to each other

10 Organisation Members

paying £750 could enable us to deliver mental health training to an entire primary school and fully-fund 56 counselling sessions

Benefits

Access to five networking and educational events with a range of guest speakers

1 / 9

Certificate of membership

2 / 9

Badge to add to business card, signature or website

3 / 9

Dedicated account manager

4 / 9

Exclusive invite to a SuffolkForward summer social

5 / 9

Opportunity to bring guests to events

6 / 9

Early notification of key training and events

7 / 9

Hosting opportunities for SuffolkForward events

8 / 9

A dedicated feature in our annual Impact Report

9 / 9

Events programme

Please note: our first and last session will conclude with an optional and anonymous Emotional Needs Audit. This will enable us to share with our collective which Emotional Needs are best and least well met among our cohort, as we move into 2025.

Taking Care of my Colleagues

Venue 16, Tuddenham Road, IP4 3QJ
16 May 2024 | 7.30am to 10.15am

What can you as an individual do in the workplace to support those around you? How can an organisation embrace culture change?

Suffolk Mind speaker: Representatives from our Suffolk Work Well Team

Guest speaker: Richard Jennis, MD of Simple Click, Charlotte Giddings of Brownie and the Bean and Clare Taylor of TMJ Interiors

Summer Social

High Lodge Leisure, Darsham, IP17 3QT
13 June 2024 | 6.30pm

Just for fun and to help us all meet our need for Community

Nurturing Our Young People

Venue 16, 312 Tuddenham Road, IP4 3QJ
19 Sept 2024 | 11.30am to 2.15pm

Why is early intervention important when it comes to mental health education and support? How do parents, carers and supporting adults open up tricky conversations with children and young people?

Speaker: Miriam Chachamu (Author and Family Therapist)

I Am Woman

Venue 16, 312 Tuddenham Road, IP4 3QU
18 Oct 2024 | 11.30am to 2.15pm

A dedicated session considering challenges specific to women, including menopause discussion.

Our panel and speakers are TBC

Community Matters

ITFC, Portman Road, Ipswich, IP1 2DA
28 Nov 2024 | 7.30am to 10.30am

Our role in our community. What can we do as individuals and organisations to make a difference to mental health in Suffolk, and why does that matter? What does CSR mean, and can it really help build business?

Our panel and speakers are TBC