Mental Health & Wellbeing Community Grant – June 2022
The London Borough of Newham, through the second round of the Mental Health & Wellbeing Community Grant are working with eight local Voluntary Community Faith Sector (VCFS) organisations to deliver engagement with communities on mental health and wellbeing recovery.
This round of funding (awarded in August 2022) focuses on projects which address loneliness and social isolation, bereavement and grief, trauma, fear and anxiety and/or reducing mental health impacts caused by financial insecurity.
The eight successful recipients of the grant fund are:
Alternatives Trust East London
Alternatives provides holistic support to vulnerable families in Newham in the context of mental health.
The funding will be used to provide free counselling to women who have experienced abandonment, abuse, trafficking, loss, violence, trauma, isolation and poverty and are struggling to bring up babies or children with little income and very little support.
They will additionally provide positive family activities, lots of opportunities for children to play and mums to make friends with each other and a therapeutic parenting group which all help to support family life.
https://www.altel.org.uk/
Money A+E
Money A+E is an award-winning Newham-based social enterprise, providing money advice & educational services to disadvantaged groups and Diverse Ethnic Communities (DEC).
Money A+E will use the grant to reduce the mental health impacts for adults in Newham caused by financial insecurity. They will provide two key strands of service through this project:
- Money Workshops: enabling attendees to identify, set and achieve personal money goals and enhance money management skills (this service re-orients and empowers people who have experienced mental health and wellbeing deteriorating as a result of money worries, and builds the pool of financial skills and knowledge in the community, increasing community resilience in the longer term).
- Money Coaches: 1:1 debt, benefits and money guidance support sessions (personalised support to get people’s money affairs back on track).
Frames Of Mind
Frames Of Mind (FOM) supports the health and mental wellbeing of Newham’s diverse communities through empowering digital engagement.
They deliver stop frame animation, film and digital arts projects to support the health and wellbeing of participants, offering unique opportunities to learn new skills, whilst engaging in meaningful, creative processes.
The funding will allow them to extend their holistic digital inclusion programme Frames Of Mind Café at Stratford Library, to strengthen referral pathways, expand outreach networks and firmly entrench Frames Of Mind Café FOMC as a vital community resource supporting more residents.
https://framesofmind.uk / https://framesofmind.uk/mental-health/
Exit Foundation
Exit Foundation strongly believe in diverting people from crime by providing preventative activities and informing people of the consequences of anti-social behaviour. They have 10 years’ experience and are specialists in providing intensive mentoring support to vulnerable children, young people and adults in Newham. They provide a holistic support package to those most in need through an approach of 1-1 counselling, mentoring, social activities, family mediation work, workshops on money management, confidence building and assisting young people to re-engage in education.
The funding will be used to deliver a supportive wrap-a-around programme, providing a specialist confidential mentoring service which will be complemented with a serious of workshops; including life skills, mental wellbeing, practical job search skills, and above all establishing a social and supportive peer network.
https://www.exitfoundation.org.uk
Newham All Star Sports Academy
Newham All Star Sports Academy (NASSA) gives young people the opportunity to play basketball in a fun, safe environment whilst also educating them on the dangers of knife crime and gang culture. They work in over 20 communities, across the four quadrants of the borough and implements services to over 1,500 participants each week within Newham.
The grant funding will be used to deliver free weekly multisport sessions for young people located within Plaistow, Canning Town and Custom House. It will also be used to train young people in accredited sports qualifications, to enable them to obtain valuable volunteering experience and paid employment. Strengthening the beneficiaries’ employability skills will also help boost their confidence and social integration.
Fight for Peace
Fight for Peace works to realise the potential of young people in communities affected by crime and violence. They achieve this through integrated and holistic programmes combining sports with education and personal development.
The grant funding will be used to develop and deliver a project centred on mental wellbeing, building protective factors and social cohesion, targeting young men and boys to engage in their Man Talk sessions. Man Talk is delivered by two experienced youth practitioners who bring together young men to discuss important personal, societal and wellbeing topics centring on the importance of open communication, acceptance and having the confidence to seek out support.
They will also organise off-site activities to further cement group cohesion and
help participants discover new activities and locations they may not be able to access otherwise. Trips will vary from cultural and historical centres to outdoor excursions.
Living Song
Living Song exists to empower and build communities through singing. Singing has the power to bring people together with a common goal where they can create something wonderful together.
The grant funding will be used to run a programme of free workshops for young people and community participants in Newham. They will also deliver free training for Young Leaders (YL) and Newham Artists in the methodology and practices of Musicians Without Borders (MwB).
YLs will explore working with the expressive and reflective elements of music to support social, psychological or physical needs, listening and responding musically and working towards agreed goals. As YLs learn to do this for themselves, they will be ready to assist in workshops within the community and schools.
www.livingsong.org
Monega Association
The Monega Association, based along Katherine Road, has a thirty-year track record of promoting community engagement and cohesion.
The grant funding will be used to counter social isolation by engaging young people in an imaginative planting project and celebrate their contribution to forming a better society. They are also engaging with a local mental health faith based charity about utilising the finished planted area for outreach and workshop activities.
In addition, they aim to host a public face to face meeting in October involving professionals in mental health, which will be held at the site of the community planting project.