Co-op Warm Spaces Funding Boost has provided £1,125 of match funding
Maintain vital services to support young people
Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
Aim
To maintain vital services that support the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Milton Keynes.
YiS Young Peoples Mental Health Charity supports the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Milton Keynes. We support young people through Education & Outreach, Early Support Hubs, Therapeutic Counselling, and 1:1 Wellbeing Coaching.
We are at a critical juncture in the history of YiS due to the increased pressures of referrals and the financial pressures of covid. We are now seeking support to help continue providing our core services.
YiS provides critical mental health support services to over 1500 young people each year and those who support them. Since the pandemic, we have seen a 42% rise in referrals to counselling and increased demand for coaching and workshops for individuals and other agencies.
Education & Outreach
Our Education & Outreach team provides inspiring, interactive and engaging education sessions on a variety of topics around mental health and wellbeing; including but not limited to: anxious feelings, self-esteem and identity, relationships, etc.
The team spends a lot of time out of the office and in the community spreading the word about YiS and raising awareness around the importance of mental health and wellbeing.
Early Support Hubs
The Hubs provide a drop-in service for young people aged 11+ who would like a safe space to access support for their mental health and wellbeing without needing a referral or an appointment. Young people will gain access to light touch, early intervention information, signposting, and guidance to support their mental health and emotional wellbeing needs before they hit a crisis point. Hubs enable young people to meet like-minded peers in their community.
Therapeutic Counselling
Our counselling service is a brief 8-session model for young people aged 11-21 who live, learn or work in Milton Keynes or the surrounding areas.
Counselling is a way of helping with problems or a space to think things out. It's based on building a trusting relationship between you and your counsellor. It can help you talk about your experiences and make sense of them. Counselling can help to express difficult feelings and learn how to manage them in a helpful way.
1:1 Wellbeing Coaching
Our 1:1 wellbeing coaching is for anyone between the ages of 11 and 25 who would like help managing difficult thoughts, anxiety and feelings. It can help them be more confident, develop healthy relationships and positively change their overall wellbeing. We support young people to recognise their strengths, skills and values to enable them to be the happiest, healthiest version of themselves.
This project successfully funded on 14th March 2023