How CHIME shapes everything we do at Lifeways

By Mark Spraggs, Managing Director of Mental Health at Lifeways 

Mental Health Awareness Week is always a meaningful time for us at Lifeways. This year the Mental Health Foundation are encouraging us to celebrate the power and importance of ‘Community’.

It’s a chance to reflect on the journeys of the people we support, and to talk about what really helps them take steps forward towards independence.

One of the most powerful approaches we take is that of the CHIME model. It’s not a checklist or a one-size-fits-all approach, it’s a set of five interconnected values that sit at the heart of recovery: Connection, Hope, Identity, Meaning and Empowerment. 

We’re embedding it into everything we do in our Mental Health division, and it couldn’t be a more perfect fit for this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week theme of Community. 

Connection is where recovery so often begins. Whether it’s a chat over a cuppa, a shared laugh, or just being there for someone on a difficult day. Connection reminds us that we’re not alone. At Lifeways, we build relationships based on trust and respect – because feeling safe and valued matters.  

Hope is a quiet but powerful force. Sometimes it’s fragile, but we see time and again how hope can grow, from small achievements or from simply knowing someone is rooting for you to overcoming life’s more challenging setbacks and hurdles. 

Identity is about supporting people to rediscover who they are, not just in relation to a diagnosis, but as individuals with their own strengths, interests and stories. 

Meaning comes from doing things that matter. Whether it’s contributing to the community through volunteering work, joining our mental health advisory panel, finding purpose in family and friendships, caring for a pet, learning something new, or simply having structure and purpose in the day, we support people to live lives that feel meaningful. 

And Empowerment means choice. The people we support have the right to be involved in decisions about their lives, a perfect fit for an organisation that co-produces services alongside the people we support. 

The CHIME framework enables us to create the right environment for recovery. And we’ve seen ourselves that it works. We’re seeing some amazing outcomes:

• Phillipa, who we support in Huddersfield, was supported with her confidence to attend college, develop interview and people skills and now works on the set of Coronation Street as a tour guide! 
• Another person we support in Doncaster, was recovering from alcohol addiction. As part of their recovery, they went to college, learned peer mentoring and obtained a fishing licence so they could teach others about angling. 
• And someone we support in Warrington has grown in confidence so much since being with us that they are now presenting talks and advice on mental health to local groups. 

This week, and every week, the people we support are tackling challenges which are so often unseen.  

I’m proud of the work we do and even prouder that we are there to make sure they are seen, heard and given the support they need to live more fulfilling and independent lives.