Council boosts support for children and young people’s mental health and wellbeing

Buckinghamshire Council has awarded funding to a range of local groups and organisations running initiatives which promote positive emotional wellbeing for children and young people.

A total of £90,518 has been provided from the Young People’s Wellbeing Fund to eight different projects across Buckinghamshire:

Action 4 Youth: Mentoring for vulnerable young people aged 11-18 in Wycombe and South Bucks to reduce mental ill health and equip participants with the tools to manage their emotional wellbeing.

Buckinghamshire Mind: Mental health and wellbeing afterschool clubs for children aged 7 – 11, teaching the ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ and mindfulness strategies, using a variety of creative activities and picture books to communicate and embed learning and strategies.

Global Feedback Ltd ('Feedback'): A project hosting school holiday events, workshops and weekend ‘cook-alongs’ using food as a hook for young people to understand the connections between food and mood. 

Mindful Ballers CIC: The programme combines mental health education, social skills training, trauma specific therapies and mentoring alongside physical activity to improve the mental health and wellbeing of young men aged 14-16 who are at risk of or have been in contact with the Criminal Justice System.

One-Eighty: A preventative mental health project supporting vulnerable young people aged 11-13 transitioning from Primary to Secondary school.

Sport in Mind: Provides 2 x 1 hour sport and physical activity sessions for young people aged 10-14 experiencing poor mental health across 39 weeks.

Wycombe Swan Theatre (Trafalgar Entertainment Trust): A wellbeing and performing arts focused project for supporting LGBTQ+ young people aged 14-18.

Youth Concern: A weekly mental health support group and counselling service for gender nonconforming young people.

Applications were invited for projects which promote positive emotional wellbeing for children and young people through activities that fall outside of the school day. Applicants were encouraged to aim for activities which would help children and young people to feel more comfortable talking about mental health, understand ways in which they can look after their mental health and to have increased awareness of further support available if needed.

To be eligible for funding, projects were required to be working with children and young people up to the age of 18, or if entirely focused on care leavers or young people with disabilities, up to the age of 25. They were also required to be working with children and young people who are either from a community identified as at higher risk of poor mental health and/or living in an Opportunity Bucks ward.

The Young People’s Wellbeing Fund was first launched in 2023. It is administered by Heart of Bucks on behalf of Buckinghamshire Council. A funding panel considered all the applications. The panel was chaired by Heart of Bucks Trustee Pippa Kirkbride and included four panel members from Heart of Bucks, four panel members from Buckinghamshire Council and three young people.

Angela Macpherson, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing said: “Once again, we are delighted to be able to support such a wide range of projects that are aimed at helping children and young people to better manage their mental health. We know that young people can face a variety of challenges as they grow up and it is important that they are provided with the skills and ability to be able to cope with these challenges and know how and where to get help and support.”

Henry Allmand, Heart of Bucks CEO said: “Heart of Bucks is pleased to have once again partnered with Buckinghamshire Council on the Young People’s Wellbeing Fund. We are passionate about supporting the future of our county. These eight organisations are all doing amazing work and I’m delighted we have been able to assist their efforts to improve the lives of so many of Buckinghamshire’s young people.”

The Opportunity Bucks programme focuses on wards where outcomes for residents, from health to employment, aren’t as good as in other parts of the county and aims to address this disparity by taking specific measures in these locations to improve the lives and experiences of the residents living there.