Burnham-On-Sea based mental health support charity In Charley’s Memory has been nominated for a community award, it’s been announced this week.
If the charity wins the Aviva Community Award they could get up to £25,000 in funding for their project.
The Burnham charity has teamed up with horticultural charity, Seed of Hope, to launch the project, Not on My Manor.
Not on My Manor (NOMM) aims to improve the awareness of the importance of mental health for young people in Burnham-On-Sea.
The year-long project will be based around creative and environmental activities and giving support to the young people who spend time in Manor Gardens.
The project will involve work with local schools and colleges to give young people more information about how to combat mental health problems.
Seed of Hope will be involved in helping with horticultural work and creating a beautiful and youth friendly environment.
In Charley’s Memory will give information and support around mental health as well as related things like drugs and alcohol.
The charity want to encourage young people to take ownership of the project and help develop it further so that Manor Gardens can become a safer place for younger people to go to.
Activities throughout 2017 will include projects to improve the local environment, based in Manor Gardens, help and support young people experiencing personal difficulties, mental health promotion events, and events aimed to reduce the stigma and discrimination faced by people with mental health problems.
The charity has to get the most votes for their venture to reach the finals where a panel of judges will decide whether they deserve funding.
Kris Scotting, co-founder of Seed of Hope, says they are excited to be involved with the project: “We are chuffed to have been nominated and hope to do well in order to help prevent poor mental health of young people of Burnham-On-Sea.”
A spokesman for In Charley’s Memory added: “We are going to transform a neglected area of our town. We will be empowering young people in our community and hopefully encouraging emotional resilience.”
“Seed of Hope are a great organisation to work with and we want to help remove the stigma around mental health and get people talking.”
