Act Now - for children's mental health (360G-CheshireCF-A608883)
The Bridge Foundation specialises in providing high quality counselling and psychotherapy for children experiencing poverty and multiple disadvantage supporting them to overcome trauma and achieve their potential. Our Act Now project will prioritise the mental health needs of at-risk children disproportionately affected by the pandemic by providing a timely and cost effective intervention; preventing a mental health crisis and mitigating the harmful mental health impact on Bristol's most vulnerable young people. Funding will be used to provide children with a dedicated psychotherapist, trained to support the needs of marginalised young people - offering one-to-one support for the child to help stabilise their condition and overcome trauma; supporting teachers and family members to develop a shared understanding of the troubled child and devise strategies to support them. Act Now will deliver effective early intervention to improve the mental health and life chances of highly vulnerable and marginalised children who have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
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Grant Details
| Amount Applied For | 5000 |
| Amount Awarded | 5095 |
| Award Date | 2021-10-21T00:00:00+00:00 |
| Beneficiary Location: Country Code | GB |
| Beneficiary Location: Geographic Code | E01033367 |
| Beneficiary Location: Geographic Code Type | LSOA |
| Beneficiary Location: Name | Bristol 025F |
| Grant Programme: Code | 2021 SE, SW London, EoE |
| Grant Programme: Title | Assura Community Fund Grants Programme 2021 |
| Impact Category | Advance people's physical and mental health, wellbeing and safety |
| Primary age group | Children (5 – 12) |
| Primary beneficiary | Children and Young People |
| Primary ethnicity | White |
| Primary issue | Mental health |
| Recipient Org: Charity Number | 1178918 |
| Recipient Org: Description | The Bridge Foundation is a centre of excellence in family mental health, specialising in providing support for disadvantaged and vulnerable children and their families. Our Bridge in Schools (BiS) programme supports the emotional wellbeing of children living in poverty or experiencing multiple disadvantage. We work in partnership with schools in areas of extreme deprivation and diversity to help troubled children to address trauma, increase emotional wellbeing and achieve their potential. We support children who are particularly at-risk by developing a tailored package of support to assist in breaking the cycle of poverty and mental ill health - improving children's emotional resilience, educational attainment, reducing risk of exclusion and helping children and young people to achieve their potential. Many families in need of support do not trust traditional services, which sometimes lack appropriate understanding of communities or cultural competencies to establish an effective therapeutic relationship. We address health inequalities by providing access to high quality psychotherapy in the school environment - which is already familiar for vulnerable children or marginalised families. Our therapists work in collaboration with schools, residents and local agencies to understand the unique challenges faced by local families. Our approach is to come out of the traditional clinic environment – to give vulnerable children access to high quality counselling and psychotherapy in the heart of their community. Our work is delivered in partnership with local schools based within the top 20% most deprived areas of the city. Each school has a dedicated therapist providing professional support to families, and working with school staff to bridge the gap between home and school life. They are experienced at supporting marginalised young people who have exhausted the school’s pastoral care system and are in need of more professional support. When schools closed to the majority of pupils in March 2020, we faced an immense challenge. BiS was no longer able to operate inside schools – an integral part of our delivery model had been removed. However, we have been able to provide a seamless service for families throughout the pandemic by pivoting our services to online sessions and telephone appointments. Previous investment in cloud-based technologies allowed us to do this overnight, and both schools and families were receptive to the necessary changes. When online sessions were not clinically appropriate or practically possible (e.g for very young children) we supported parents and children together or offered a parent session in place of child therapy. With schools currently open, we have begun delivering face-to-face work once again, in line with government guidelines and each school’s policies and procedures. The pandemic has disproportionately affected disadvantaged and isolated families and our data shows that children are being referred to the service with increasingly severe and complex mental health issues. The organisation operates a mixed income model which incorporates our (not for profit) fee-paying service, Bridge Psychotherapy Service, contributions from our partner schools and charitable grants from Trusts and Foundations. This approach allows us to mitigate risk and ensure a consistent and sustainable service. |
| Recipient Org: Web Address | https://www.bridgefoundation.org.uk/ |