Rocketing demand for Jami’s services throughout the Covid crisis has added £1 million to the annual budget of the communal mental health charity.

To meet the increasing burden, Jami hopes that its upcoming first major crowdfunding campaign will generate desperately needed income to both maintain current activities and finance new provision such as a service for those of secondary school age.

Jami CEO Laurie Rackind told the JC that the charity had received around 600 new referrals since April 2020. In every case, the pandemic was cited as a contributory factor.

Hours of support had risen by more than half; referrals to its carer and family support service had tripled and those to its young adult services had doubled.

Last year, Jami assisted 1,558 people on a one-to-one basis. There were also more than 34,000 “unique interactions” variously covering service users, carers, advocacy matters, educational sessions, peer support groups and activities provided through its Head Room café.

The mounting calls on its expertise had also required the recruitment of additional staff (there are now 83 on the payroll compared to 56 in March 2020). Largely as a consequence, its budget has risen by a third to £4 million and the charity receives virtually no statutory income. “We’re going to the community now because this is more than a crisis response,” Mr Rackind said.

“We always acknowledged that the mental health impact [of the pandemic] was going to lag behind the viral curve — but the tail of it was going to be much longer lasting. That is the case and demands on our services are still huge.”

Some of those supported had been living with mental health issues before the pandemic which had been exacerbated by the situation over the past two years.

“But we’re also getting people for whom the pandemic has initiated the need for our support.”

Mr Rackind added that “people come to our door because they may be struggling with all sorts of aspects of their daily lives — relationships, work, education, their personal care. The fact is that Covid has disrupted that for a lot of people and if you are already struggling and there is a disruption, it’s even harder to know how to manage.

“It is a huge challenge to respond. Our intake advice and advocacy team is three times the size it was because we realise we have got to provide signposting and information at that front door. We have to provide an increased level of service for some time to come and we need that to be funded.”

With lockdowns having heightened the importance of its digital offering, “we are not as geographically restricted. We now have users across the UK and internationally. We also offer text-based counselling. We’ve even had staff stranded abroad continue to work [remotely]. That kind of flexibility suits Jami.”

The interview with the JC is at Head Room in Golders Green, the prime example of Jami’s efforts to “bring mental health into the high street, with food and beverage at its heart”.

Plans to double the size of the café through extending to the adjoining property are well advanced. Mr Rackind said the hope was to have the enlarged site functional by Pesach, although supply chain problems and other pandemic-related issues might delay this.

“It’s way more than coffee and shakshuka,” he reflected. “It’s about all sorts of educational programmes, mutually supported groups. It’s about helping to change the mindset of the community around Jews and mental health, making it far less stigmatising.

“When I started in mental health, the stigma was absolutely rife. I am not saying it’s gone away but it’s far easier to engage now by doing it in this kind of environment.

“This happens to be kosher, which is important. But there are people who come here who would not normally go to a kosher café.”

However, in a space with 30-35 covers, “having a group meeting that takes 25 per cent of the café impacts on the commercial viability. We also needed to expand so that we can have more confidential space.” The charity also intends to develop a site in Mill Hill and, longer term, establish cafés in North London or other high streets “where there is a high Jewish footfall”.

Customer service is paramount. “One of the things we are committed to do is make the experience of engaging with Jami services as positive as it can be,” Mr Rackind stressed.

“It’s hard enough coming to a mental health service provider. Imagine if you wanted a cup of coffee and it was lukewarm in a polystyrene beaker. That’s not to say it’s all about the coffee but the whole experience should be positive. You deserve parity of esteem in mental health.”

Meanwhile, Jami plans to partner with a Jewish secondary school for the pilot programme for the young people’s service — “a combination of the professional disciplines we already have for adults”.

Looking ahead to the crowdfunder, Mr Rackind said a virtue was that it enabled more people to be involved, rather than have clients’ “really emotive testimonies” confined to an audience of 300 at a physical fundraiser.

“Why is that message only important to those who can afford to sit around a table at a charity dinner? We need the community to understand what an amazing service they have.

“We know the [crowdfunder] model works. We know the psychology of a matched campaign and I’m proud to say we have got some very generous foundations and others who have contributed so we can double contributions.”