There’s only a few weeks left to donate to our Through the Cracks appeal. We kicked this off in January, aiming to raise £5000 to help people with complex needs who fall outside care provided within mental health systems. We’ve raised a brilliant £3120 but we’d like to try and reach our target.
Have a look at what we’re trying to do below and if you’d like to donate you can until the Coronation Weekend of 6th May.
“It feels like I keep falling through the cracks.”
This was what one individual I work with said to me before Christmas as we were discussing the support available to them to help their mental health. I remember the conversation very clearly and the impact it had on me. “I know without support I’ll just end up returning to a cycle of needing more interventions” they said “I want to get better but I need help to do that.”
With the increased pressure on the NHS it’s understandable that priority is placed on high risk or urgent situations. In Mental Health and Wellbeing this can lead to some people falling through the cracks. Maybe these individuals don’t need urgent interventions but they may need ongoing support that Health or Community services don’t currently offer. Maybe their lives have chipped away at their resilience and they are hurt or defended as a result - making them harder to work with. Particularly it might be hard if:
they need regular relational support to help overcome challenges like having the confidence to get outside or join groups.
they have complex needs where a number of different interventions are needed.
they have challenges accessing support (maybe a lack of IT to use online resources)
they have to overcome economic or social challenges
In situations like this, Space to Breathe can often help as we can be flexible because we’re small - we can adapt our support to meet these challenging needs. As we enter 2023 a signficant number of the individuals we support fit this sense of falling through the cracks and we’re coming across more people every day.
In reality, we’ve found these kind of situations don’t often get funded, and there is no obvious public sector help available and this doesn’t make for an easy grant application. Instead we’ve been trying to give time to be a steady support and realise that whatever we can do will be a help that may lead to further positive steps.
Our £5000 target will enable us to:
Provide regular one to one support through Wellbeing Check Ins.
Provide a variety of free resources to people for ongoing care through our Wellbeing Suite.
Create a library of resources to signpost people to ongoing support that can help them when they’re discharged from NHS Care.
Provide safe spaces to attend and meet others when people feel able to do this.
Provide access to IT for people who don’t have this.
As you’ll see from the link below we are looking for smaller and larger gifts but we also want you to feel free to simple share with others or to do nothing in response at all. We’re aware it’s a difficult time and so please only respond if you want to. The link to donate is below.
Here at Space to Breathe we are so grateful for people like you who’ve continually helped us in our journey. We wouldn’t be here without your help and all you do we want to express all of our thanks. If this campaign strikes a cord with you, do respond or share. If that’s not something you’re able to do, we still love to hear your thoughts and do remember you can volunteer with us too.