The Richmond Foundation’s next step is to have a mental health centre, founder and now former chairperson of the mental health organisation Anthony Guillaumier said.

Guillaumier founded the Richmond Foundation in May 1993 to address the shortage in mental health support services in the country at the time. Today, the Foundation is Malta’s leading NGO in the provision of community services for people with mental health problems and their loved ones.

Last month, Guillaumier stepped down as chair of the Foundation after almost a three-decade tenure. One of his last projects before he stepped down was to establish the groundwork for the mental health centre.

The Malta Independent on Sunday asked Guillaumier about the mentality of mental health back when Richmond was founded and how he came about the idea of starting such an institution.

“It was done by accident; originally, I was not trying to establish anything. I had met the founder of Richmond in Surrey, England, and I came to realise that the ideal model for mental health was support services with the community,” Guillaumier said.

He continued that another reason was related to how to increase productivity of the workforce in his family business through the possible reduction of absenteeism that was evidently due to psychological matters at home or at the place of work.

“I wrote a letter to the Ministry of Health at the time and after six months I received a reply. We initially started our venture as a P.P.P. with the government. When government introduced the Voluntary Organisation Act, we became a fully independent NGO,” he said.

Guillaumier said that at that time there was nothing else that catered for persons with mental health difficulties, except the short-term stay psychiatric unit at St Luke’s Hospital and Mount Carmel Hospital.

Asked about the improvement of mental health services since then, Guillaumier said that there was a lot of stigma for someone with a mental illness; however, the narrative has changed, as we now talk about “mental health”.

“We needed something in the community. Nowadays we have community services established by the government, a Commissioner for Mental Health and various programmes by Richmond, among others,” he said.

Guillaumier said that stigmas will always be in place, especially around murder cases involving individuals who could be mentally ill. There have been cases in the past which put the focus of a crime on the mental health of the perpetrator.

Guillaumier spoke about the facilities provided by Richmond for independent or supported living in the community for persons with mental health problems. He said that Richmond operates five hostels and about 25 apartments all over the island.

“All our services are free of charge, except our courses on mental health first aid, and our staff and organisation programmes, which provide counselling services for employees of local companies. The companies pay us for providing this service to their employees,” he said.

Asked about major initiatives Richmond has initiated, Guillaumier stated that the first breakthrough was to acquire Villa Chelsea in Birkirkara and obtain funding from government for its operations.

“Then there was the challenge of building a team of care workers from scratch and the resistance by neighbours in the vicinity,” he said.

“When the programme at Villa Chelsea started to work successfully, a framework of needs for other services was identified to support those individuals who completed their rehabilitation programme, to continue living in the community,” Guillaumier said.

Today, Richmond has grown into a fully-fledged organisation with a track-record of introducing new programmes with the context of mental health, the latest being OLLI Chat, Helpline 1770, the Kif Int app, Ankra for Youths and various others.

“With over 120 employees, apart from part-timers and volunteers, there are constant challenges to sustain appropriate funding, which mainly comes from government entities. But one way or another we have always managed to make ends meet,” Guillaumier said.

Asked how he feels after having stepped down from the post of chairman, Guillaumier said that it was a difficult decision for him and was sad to say farewell, but at the same time it is important for a person to realize that there are different phases in life, and this was his time. He will, however, be there to offer his advice and assistance whenever this is required from him.

If you or someone you know is struggling, reach out to Richmond on their helpline 1770 or chat with them on OLLI.chat. Both are free and available 24/7.