More needs to be to support the sector warns Chief Executive of East Kent mental health charity

The Chief Executive of a mental health charity in East Kent has warned that more needs to be done to support the sector.

It follows yesterday's event in Margate, for World Suicide Awareness Day, where charities gathered to educate people on mental health and where to find support.

There, Take Off, a charity that provide help to residents in Canterbury, Ashford, Dover and Thanet told us how they've had to cut services over the last few years, just to survive.

Wayne Bridge MBE, who is their CEO, said: "I dread to think what would happen if we wasn't about.

"We aren't the only mental health charity in this area so if we were all to disappear I can imagine more people would take their lives and the NHS would be swamped with people knocking on their door.

"We've had to reduce service, like a lot of organisations. We can't pay for the best staff, we can't afford to run event which then impacts our out reach.

"The last year or two, a lot of mental health charities have seen the amount of money that we getting cut from governments, local authorities and from private funds.

"We often put in funding bids and we use to get a success of one in four but now it's one in 8 and these bids can take a lot of work to complete.