MATT HICKEY

Matt Hickey joined the Mental Health Foundation (MHF) in 2015 as the Community and Events Executive, being promoted to Manager of the team in 2017, in recognition of his community fundraising talent and drive to develop himself professionally at MHF. During his time at the Foundation he has developed and launched new fundraising programmes such as Curry & Chaat to encourage more men to talk about their mental health while fundraising. For MHF this is important not just for raising income but also when we consider the fact that suicide is a leading cause of death for men up to the age of forty and men are less likely to reach out for help, so providing a possible way to talk about their wellbeing is central to our vision of good mental health for all at MHF. He has led on the development of a programme of engagement with our many thousands of Facebook fundraisers, and in response to the coronavirus outbreak quickly with this team learnt new skills and built a virtual fundraising programme, while retaining relationships with all our runners, walkers and community fundraisers who were disappointed and anxious about cancelled events.