Ahead of Children’s Mental Health Week 2019, Vanessa Boyle — Individual Giving Manager — at national children’s charity, Place2Be, talks to us about her organisation’s work.
In 1994, Place2Be was founded with the aim of providing emotional support to children at an early age within a school setting and now provides mental health support to some of the UK’s most vulnerable children and young people.
‘Place2Be is now in 294 schools and, last year, 232 schools took part in our in-depth training programmes,’ says Vanessa. The charity, which turns 25 this year, now reaches over 140,000 children each year and, in 2018, provided training for more than 1,000 child counsellors.
These impressive figures are symptomatic of a charity which has gone from strength to strength in recent years. Back in 2013, it was announced that Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, was to become Place2Be’s Royal Patron.
At the time, Benita Refson OBE — Chief Executive and Founding Trustee of the charity — said: ‘This is a tremendous endorsement of the tireless work and commitment of our staff, volunteer counsellors and supporters, as well as of the partner schools with whom we work to help troubled children to overcome emotionally difficult times in their lives.
‘The Duchess’ support will help Place2Be hugely in its efforts to shine the spotlight on child mental health, and on the need to tackle these issues at the earliest possible stage, so that children have the brightest possible futures, as they deserve.’
However, despite these recent successes and impressive statistics, the charity is more than aware that there is still work to be done. ‘A key challenge is to continue to provide the highest quality service possible, whilst reaching as many children as we can,’ Vanessa explains. ‘Reports of mental health issues and the demand for mental health services are increasing, yet they currently get less funding than physical health.
‘The second key challenge is to reduce the stigma that surrounds mental health. By addressing mental health issues within a school setting, we hope to normalise mental health and, by tackling issues early in life, we hope to ensure any mental health issues don’t define lives.’
As part of Place2Be’s strategy to tackle these challenges, the charity promotes Children’s Mental Health Week every year. The theme for this year’s week is Healthy: Inside and Out — the week will run from 4th–10th February and encourages children, young people and adults to look after their bodies and minds.
Information on how to take part and resources for doing so — including top tips, assembly guides, activity instructions and more — are now available on the charity’s website.
Underpinning all of the charity’s work is their key goal: to reach more children and young people who need help. ‘It costs £7 to help reach out to one more child via our lunchtime drop-in service,’ Vanessa points out.
If you’d like to help Place2Be reach another child who needs help, text ‘PLACE 7’ to 70085 to make a one-off donation of £7 or text ‘TALK 7’ to 70085 to make a monthly donation of £7*.
For more information on the charity and Children’s Mental Health Week 2019, visit their website or find Place2Be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or Linkedin.
*Other amounts that can be donated are: £1, £2, £3, £4, £5, £6, £8, £9, £10, £11, £12, £13, £14, £15, £16, £17, £18, £19, £20. All donation amounts can be donated as a one-off payment or a monthly contribution. For one-off donations, text ‘PLACE’ followed by an amount to 70085 e.g. ‘PLACE 18’ to donate £18. For monthly donations, text ‘TALK’ followed by an amount to 70085 e.g. ‘TALK 19’ to donate £19. Supporters making a recurring payment will receive instructions on how to skip a payment or stop all donations via text message, once their first donation has been made. Supporters making a recurring payment will receive a monthly reminder that a payment is about to be taken.
