My Story

On the 05th May 2012 I lost a member of my family to suicide, my daughter Lucy Rayner. At the age of 22 she ended her life following the break up of her relationship and left our family devastated.

I knew she had mood swings but I didn't realize how deeply unhappy she was until we found diaries after her death, outlining her feelings of depression and torment over a six year period.

Lucy had gone to the doctors 2 weeks prior to her death and was prescribed different contraception, after the doctors stating it was just hormonal!

Out of my despair I decided to start a charity because I felt that my daughter had slipped through the gaps in the NHS and was never referred to have some kind of talking therapy, which was obviously what she needed.

Our family held a memorial gala for Lucy and with the money raised on the night, The Lucy Rayner Foundation charity was born in May 2013.

What started out as a family run charity with 2 members, is now a team of 9, strong and growing every day. As well as sharing a passion for mental health, we all have a dream of having a wellbeing center of excellence within Surrey that will bring a holistic approach to promoting good mental health whilst building resilience in our young people.

Young People and their mental health

Having run our service since 2013 we have seen a huge rise in poor mental health in young people especially since the pandemic. 

FACT

Young Minds say that one in five children aged 5 to 16 were identified as having a probable mental health problem in July 2021, a huge increase from one in nine in 2017. That’s six children in every classroom of 30 children! In Surrey alone over the last 12 months we have had over 688 referrals for counselling. It is very alarming to know that we have seen a 68% increase in young people accessing our services and this figure is still rising! We are expecting to see this figure rise again this year.

Solution

Something more has to be done because what we have in place isn't enough, it just isn't working. I feel that a wellbeing center is the perfect solution for young people and their families. A place to go where they can relax, learn coping techniques for their unique mental health issues, discover and try alternative methods to manage their anxiety, depression or other types of mental ill health. Our center will be a place where they can learn new hints and tips that could save their life or lives of the people around them. The wellbeing centre will support the young people in Surrey and the wider local community, it will address a lot of the gaps that we are seeing in the current services and it will ensure that no one slips through the net. We will make it our mission to work with all of the other partners and organizations who have the same objectives as we do. No one person can make change happen, it takes a collective.

The Wellbeing Centre

In March 2022 I thought this was going to be a reality when we found a 19 acre site, we put in an offer for the site that was agreed with the owner. Everything was in place to move forward to purchase, then a developer came in at the final moments and gazumped us, offering a price to the owners that they couldn't refuse.

In February 23 the same land came back on the market and we put in an offer which was accepted. After doing a lot of due diligence we found that the land wasn't suitable, so in November 23 we had to let the site go. I was disheartened and very sad, but determined to keep going!

The hunt was on for a new site.

The vision of the wellbeing center is still very much alive.  I want to get the community behind us and make this something that will inspire and address a growing issue that is arising within young people and their mental health. The aim is to build something for the community, to create a wellbeing center that will support and serve young people, to help build mental resilience, raise awareness around the signs and symptoms of mental ill health, educate on how to live a healthy life and to help young people create their healthy tool kits using a holistic approach that they can then use throughout their life.

Fundraising through the crowdfunding platform I am hoping to gain support, raise awareness of our project and our charity, build momentum and achieve our target of building out the facility that we have worked on for over 5 years. The money raised from this campaign will form the first phase, the build and purchase.

The Project

The center we hope, will be a center of excellence, a recognized building that promotes good mental health in young people aged 14 yrs - 39 years.

The center will include different types of therapies, a full catering kitchen where people can learn about foods and how to feed the body with the right nutrients, a gym to practice good physical health, quiet areas for reflection, a café, training rooms, social spaces to encourage conversation, and many more things to offer a safe space to retreat to for a short period. 

After knocking on many doors we finally have been given the opportunity to build  the center that we have been dreaming of but to do that we will have to raise a lot of money.

We are asking YOU to HELP us to BUILD the wellbeing center by BUYING A BRICK to start the foundations of the center. Every brick brought will be put down in this first phase of the build. 

We have set an incredible target of 2.4 million and have a robust marketing strategy in place to hopefully raise this incredible amount.

We have already raised over £117,000! But we need all the help we can get to achieve the amount needed. You can help us get there by making a donation today. No amount is too small!

Be a part of something special! Help us, to help our young to thrive.

I don't want another young person to be failed by the system and to end up taking their lives like Lucy did. You can change the status quo by pledging a brick and joining us to build a future that is supporting young people by giving them the space and the tools to support themselves.

LET'S BUILD THIS TOGETHER!

Once we have hit our target we will be in contact with everyone to celebrate!!

Keep an eye out for our updates as we will be sharing our progress every month from now on!