Charity Update: Place2Be
One of The Private Equity Foundation’s charities, The Place2Be, has recently announced that they will be expanding into Cardiff, thanks to the funding they have received from PEF.
The Place2Be works inside primary schools to improve the mental health of children and their families and was working with 37,000 children in 112 schools across 12 Local Authority ‘hubs’ when PEF first supported the charity in 2007. PEF funded the development of three new Local Authority ‘hubs’, along with the building of internal capacity at the charity to enable further expansion. This programme has been successfully achieved and The Place2Be now works with 46,000 children in 146 schools across 16 hubs.
The expansion into Cardiff marks an important step for the charity as it will see them delivering school-based mental health services not only in their 16th hub but also in a new country. The charity will be working initially with up to six schools in the city supporting some 2,000 children and their families, and the project will form part of the Welsh Assembly’s School-based Mental Health pilot. The Cardiff hub will be funded through a partnership of public and private supporters including the schools themselves, the Cardiff Local Authority, the Welsh Assembly and HBOS.
“There are over a million children aged under 15 years of age who have a diagnosable mental health illness” Office of National Statistics, 2000
As well as the new Cardiff hub, PEF funded the successful expansion of The Place2Be into the North West of England with new hubs opening in Manchester (September 2007) and Burnley (April 2008). Both of these hubs are fully established offering support to almost 4,000 children and their families in areas of extremely high need. A start-up baseline data analysis by the charity showed that 24% of the children in Manchester and 32% of the children in Burnley had acute mental health problems compared to the national average of 10%[1]. This analysis is being used by The Place2Be to carry out a longitudinal study in the region.
“I think that a resource like The Place2Be should be in every single primary school, because if we can sort out children’s emotional difficulties and behaviour now, then the future must look brighter,” Sylvie Libson, Head teacher, London.
The sustainability of these new hubs, as well as The Place2Be’s other 13 hubs across the UK, is also key to PEF’s support for the charity. PEF has funded the post of Head of Fundraising at the charity with the aim of allowing the organisation to develop its capacity in this area to ensure that The Place2Be is equipped to achieve its aim of supporting 80,000 in 190 schools by 2010. This investment has allowed The Place2Be develop a small fundraising team who have helped the charity be chosen as the Charity of the Year for Credit Suisse, Standard Life and Martin Currie Investment Management in 2008.
“The growing culture of gangs, knife crime, permanent exclusions and truancy is a consequence of leaving children’s problems unaddressed; consequences that affect us all. A staggering 90% of all young offenders had a mental health problem at the age of seven and there are over one million children aged under 15 years who have a diagnosable mental health illness.
PEF’s donation has so far given 6,000 children and their families a year direct access to the mental health services that they need to develop the emotional resilience and strength to cope with the difficulties in their lives and break the cycle of deprivation that exists in their communities.
Children who can resolve their emotional and behavioural difficulties are less likely to go off the rails, whilst parents who are equipped to tackle their own issues are able to form more positive relationships with their children. The result is happier children with better prospects and that benefits everyone.”
For more information on The Place2Be click here or visit their web site at: www.theplace2be.org.uk
[1] source: Goodman R (1997) The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire: A Research Note. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry