Mental health services for young people on the Island have received a huge boost thanks to a £200,000 Government grant to develop an Early Intervention Hub. The grant has been awarded to the Isle of Wight Youth Trust, the Island’s largest voluntary sector provider of mental health and wellbeing services for children and young people. The money will support the Youth Trust’s Early Intervention Hub which was set up initially with funding from the Big Lottery Fund following suggestions by service users who identified gaps in existing provision. As well as providing counselling and wellbeing support to children and young people, the service has developed to provide a range of support including housing in partnership with Sovereign Network Group and employment advice through a partnership with the Isle of Wight Council and Department for Work and Pensions. The additional funding from the Department for Health and Social Care will help the charity to expand its service so that it can support even more young people on the Island in ever-increasing ways. Specifically, the funds will be used to:
- Expand information, advice and guidance; getting information out into communities to raise awareness of the help that is available
- Introducing advocacy for young people and re-opening the counselling service for 18-25s
- Providing additional support to neurodiverse children and young people
- Maintaining and increasing the Trust’s parent support sessions
- Creating a refreshed, more visible and accessible space for young people to visit for support
Jo Dare, Youth Trust CEO said:
“From increasing levels of referrals and the comments made by children and young people in our census last year, it is clear that more young people are struggling with their mental health. “We are working to ensure that no young Islanders feel alone with the worries and challenges they experience. Through listening to young people, the Youth Trust is now ready to take the next step in its evolution to create an accessible one-stop-shop where they can receive the help and support they need or be helped to access other appropriate services. This funding has enabled the Youth Trust to continue to meet the needs of an increasing number of young people.”
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Katie Durkin, Youth Social Action Development Worker & Taskforce Coordinator said:
“The young people I work with on the Taskforce are extremely pleased that their views are being listened to and that services are being developed as a direct result of the feedback they have provided. These funds will make a massive difference to our work on the Island, helping to provide a brighter future for those seeking support.”
Bob Seely MP said:
“The Government is right to recognise the important work being done by the Youth Trust and I am delighted to welcome this funding. “As ever, I am delighted that the Government is prioritising the Isle of Wight. We are one of 24 areas in the country to receive this funding. “I know that early access to mental health support for young people will be welcomed by Island families. “The money has been allocated for an initial twelve month period so I’ll be working with the Youth Trust to do what I can to extend this funding into future years.”
Councillor Jonathan Bacon, Isle of Wight Council cabinet member for children’s services and education, said:
“We are delighted with this news, which will strengthen the mental health provision for young people across the Island. We will work with our colleagues at the IW Youth Trust with the development and promotion of the Early Intervention Hub, to ensure all young people on the Island are aware of this new resource.”
Why is everything a ‘hub’ these days?
Youth mental health is simple, Get them off social media, outdoors. People need to be harder on the kids giving them clear direction and stop raising snow flakes.
Some of them are kids with PTSD. Some have lost a parent. Some were abused. Some are in care. But we’ll just kick them out the door and tell them to man up, shall we? Nice.