Child mental health projects in Buckinghamshire awarded funding

Buckinghamshire Council has awarded nearly £100,000 to a range of projects which promote positive emotional wellbeing for children and young people in Buckinghamshire.

The funding, from the Children and Young People’s Wellbeing Fund, has been allocated to eight different out-of-school projects. The fund is run in partnership with Heart of Bucks who administer it on behalf of the Council.

Local groups were invited to apply for funding of up to £15,000 for their project. All bids were considered by the specialist panel which included local young people.

The successful projects were Action 4 Youth, which is a counselling service for 12-18-year-olds exhibiting poor emotional wellbeing and mental health, based at The Junction Youth Centre.

Brighter Futures Together aims to develop a network of Young Mental Health Champions, while Carers Bucks is a targeted group focusing on the mental wellbeing of young carers aged 12-16 years.

Connection Support is a counselling service for 12-18-year-olds who have become homeless or at risk of being homeless. This project was co-produced with young people who wanted to employ a trained counsellor to support them with poor emotional wellbeing and mental health.

CreateED South East is a music and mindfulness project for children aged 5-11 years with poor emotional wellbeing and additional needs.

Other projects include Mama Bee Group, which is aimed at supporting young people in care or care leavers with poor mental health; Theatre Shed - an initiative to improve wellbeing through performing arts workshops and wellbeing activities. Youth Concern meanwhile aims to help meet the increased demand for high quality person-centred counselling for vulnerable 13-18-year-olds outside school hours.

Angela Macpherson, Buckingamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said: “We are delighted to be able to support so many fantastic initiatives aimed at supporting the mental wellbeing of children and young people in Buckinghamshire. Over the past few years particularly, our young people have been hugely affected by global events. These events were unsettling enough for adults, let alone children. Growing up in today’s world can bring many challenges so it is important that our young people are able to arm themselves with the knowledge, awareness and capabilities to look after their mental health both now and in the future.”