We provided a grant of £23,287.50 to fund a three-year programme of Mental Health and Wellbeing Workshops, for young homeless people, in Depaul UK’s accommodation projects in the North East of England.
Depaul UK supports young people aged 16-25 who find themselves homeless by providing emergency accommodation, supported housing and other services which help young people rebuild their lives. Young people who experience homelessness often struggle with a variety of different pressures, with poor mental health often being a major factor.
The pandemic has placed unprecedented pressures on the mental health and wellbeing, of Depaul’s vulnerable young people, with many concerned about the future.
"From speaking with our staff and young people, we know that the pandemic continues to put unprecedented pressures on their mental health and wellbeing, with many concerned about the future. Having the Wellbeing Programme in place has been crucial in enabling young people to talk about their mental health, learn wellbeing techniques, and get specialist crisis support when they need it."
During these three years, 116 young people have directly benefited by attending workshops, participating in mental health week and wellbeing activities. In addition, each year, 120 young people living in DePaul accommodation received mental health and wellbeing activities, resources, and tools as part of the overall support provided. And, ten young people received ongoing one-to-one/crisis support from the Wellbeing Manager.
The Foundation’s support has contributed to an organisational commitment to mental health and wellbeing across Depaul UK, with a greater understanding of how to manage Young People during the pandemic. The Foundation’s funding includes supporting the new organisational wellbeing strategy, mandatory mental health and wellbeing training for all new starters, and funds going towards ongoing mental health training for staff, and the introduction of the new Mental Health & Substance Misuse Coordinator. Some of the staffing successes include:
- 56 members of staff have received mental health training
- New Mental Health and Substance Misuse Coordinator role has been extremely successful, already engaging with hard to reach clients and a reduction in the number of safeguarding incidents among the clients as a result.
- Wellbeing Manager created two face-to-face gender peer support groups which were well attended by feedback from young people pointed to positive impact the groups have on mental health.
"We really appreciate CareTech Foundation’s support of Depaul UK. This has been invaluable during this unprecedented and challenging year as it has enabled us to provide mental health and wellbeing support to young people in our care, helping them to build resilience and mental health awareness."
