Back in October, Basildon Council launched a mental health fund, and the council has now selected and awarded over £50,000 worth of grants to twelve organisations offering mental health services in the Basildon borough.
The one off grants of up to £5000 were available to voluntary and community sector organisations to support mental health projects, training and professional development, improving organisational infrastructure, or supporting staff salaries and volunteer expenses.
One of the grant recipients are the Craig Tyler Trust, who with the funding will launch a mobile mental health support unit – allowing the trust to be present in different areas across the borough and be available to support a wider range of residents. Another organisation is Parents 4 Parents, who applied for funding to support Project Power – which aims to provide subject specialist SEN coaching workshops and will develop parents’ knowledge and confidence to support their child and themselves.
Karen Pullen, Founder and Chair of the Craig Tyler Trust, said: “This grant has enabled us to help so many people who have been affected by Covid-19. Our residents have experienced grief, loneliness, extreme hardship among lots of other difficulties, and we’ve been inundated with calls for help.
“By The Craig Tyler Trust receiving this grant we have been able to give our help to hundreds of people and we have been will continue to do so with the amazing support of Basildon Council.”
Iain McPherson, Group Chief Executive of Countryside Properties, added: “We’re pleased to have contributed to Basildon Council’s Mental Health Grant which supports community organisations across the borough deliver vital services for those who need it most.
“Our very own Communities Fund, which launched last year, aims to provide a financial lifeline to communities up and down the country. Mental health concerns are a core cause that the fund has been helping to address on a national level and it is great to see that our £20,000 donation has helped support so many mental health projects in the borough.”
The Leader of Basildon Council, Councillor Gavin Callaghan, added: “We launched this grant scheme to help our partners in mental health at a time when statistics showed that there could be a greater demand for mental health services over the winter.
“We are blessed with many organisations across the borough that do such fantastic work to support our residents’ mental health, and I’m grateful that we’ve been able to give financial support to twelve such organisations.
“I’m thankful to our partners Public Health, Countryside Properties, and Mark Noble and partners in this project, who put our resident’s mental health first by providing financial support to this great cause.”
