We had the privilege of visiting three organisations that Devon Community Foundation (DCF) fund under the CLASP (Communities: Local Action on Suicide Prevention) grant. We have an ongoing interest in mental health and understand it is a very current and important issue. We were pleased to be approached by public health teams in Devon Community Council and Torbay to administer and implement the programme across Devon.
This grant is aimed to support community-based approaches to suicide awareness and prevention. Funding is available to organisations raising awareness of risk factors associated with suicide, and build confidence and skills in taking action to prevent future deaths. It’s been found that being part of a community can have a positive effect on mental health and emotional wellbeing, and that building thriving communities helps everyone’s mental health.
We will share a bit about the work that these organisations are doing in the sector of mental health, and how this funding has helped them to raise awareness and continue their journey of helping other people in blogs throughout this week. But firstly, to put the current issue of mental health and suicide into perspective: 1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England.
And over the course of someone’s lifetime:
(Statistics taken from Mind UK, Office for National Statistics and Public Health)
The panel was made up of individuals from Public Health Torbay, Public Health Devon County Council, Pete’s Dragons, DCF, a DCF Trustee and DCF Community Insight Team.
13 applications were accepted, and a a result, a total of £40,514.50 was given out. We visited ‘Bounce! Brighter Futures Foundation,’ ‘Sound Communities’ and ‘Esteem Team.’ All three organisations take a community-based approach to suicide prevention. Whilst they are all important and effective, different services are offered some of which include 1:1 counselling, alternative education, and early intervention.
The CLASP programme is just one of the many grant-making opportunities in the mental health sector that we have been involved with. Other grants and support we have given (and continue to give) include the ‘Feel Good’ grant and ‘Like Minds’ network. The ‘Feel Good’ grant provides financial support to organisations who support people experiencing ill mental health. Whilst the ‘Like Minds’ network provides a support mechanism to the leaders of smaller providers and organisations. Although most of the grants we provide focus on the work they do, there is a newfound interest in the health of the organisations. DCF have begun to develop some experience and expertise in mental health and are keen to expand and grow this in the near future.
We’ll be sharing more information over the next few days on each of the organisations mentioned above. However if you want to have a look at what they do, please find their websites linked below:
