EiDA16 Shortlisted Nominee
Diverse Company Award for Charity
Leeds based charity; Touchstone was born in 1982, after a need for friendship and community within South Leeds was identified. It was acknowledged that large numbers of vulnerable people were left feeling isolated and distressed out of hours and during the weekends, which led to the development of a ‘weekend club’ which eventually developed into Touchstone. More than 30 years on and Touchstone provides mental health and wellbeing services to over 2,000 people per year, aiming to make the cities they work in more culturally competent and better able to meet the needs of the vulnerable people they support. Featured in the Stonewall Top 100 Employers List since 2014, Touchstone are active in promoting Equality & Diversity across the organisation aswell as the whole of West Yorkshire. They lead on a series of community based initiatives including ‘MAP’ (Migrant Access Project), a profound initiative that has been implemented to help guide newly arrived migrants to access local services such as GP Surgeries and Schools.