My Story

I am running for Youthline to raise awareness and funding of how important mental health is to all of us, but most importantly for our children. 

Helping others is my passion and for the past two years I have been supporting and raising funds for our local charity Youthline. This charity, with its incredible team, provides free counselling to teenagers and their parents. The waiting list for their services has increased enormously as we now have epidemic levels of mental health challenges. So this additional funding will provide further services so more people can benefit from their support.

One of Youthline's 2023 initiatives will be to proactively support the youngest group of 11 -12-year-olds who are transitioning from primary to secondary school. Providing knowledge, support and guidance to these children will help them to deal with stress and anxiety of events like taking SATS exams and moving to a new, bigger school. Knowing how to deal with stress is a vital life skill which all children should learn from a young age before they develop unhealthy methods. 

Being happy and enjoying life is important for us all and can be as easy as brightening someone’s day with a smile or wave. Running around Bracknell in fancy dress costumes and seeing the joy I can provide to those who see me is something I love doing.

Little acts of kindness can go a long way. So sprinkle kindness wherever you can.

How your funding support will be used by Youthline.

Group work in secondary schools

We are aware from our counselling work with young people, that there is an increase in ‘stress and worry’, which can translate in many forms. This could be around exams, school, friendships, future, global issues…this list goes on. This increase in these issues have also meant that waiting time for Youthline school counselling has increased dramatically. Youthline has created a Therapeutic Group Work programme to allow more young people to access support within the Bracknell Forest area.  This will offer insight, learning through psychoeducation to help young people regulate and understand their issues which could greatly benefit them, improve their concentration, and help regulate their emotions with the tools they gain through the group work.

Group work for primary – secondary transition

Every year Youthline receive a large number of enquiries for 11–12-year-olds experiencing stress and worry around their transition into secondary schools. This can be a challenging time for young people which can impact on their ability to settle into their new school environment.  Youthline are creating a Therapeutic Group Work programme to support year 6 primary age young people with developing insight into their worries, learning through psychoeducation to help regulate and understanding their issues and emotions with the tools they gain through the workshop. With these understanding and new tools, can enable clients to prepare to transition to secondary school more effectively.