£113,000 granted to Northern Ireland mental health charities

by Gráinne Connolly

The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland has given out almost £113,000 in grants to 12 charities, that work to improve the mental health of people in Northern Ireland.

The Foundation’s ‘Our Community in Mind’ mental health initiative received 177 applications from charities.

This was narrowed down to 12 organisations which work in key areas such as suicide and self-harm, binge eating, young people’s issues, prisoners and post-natal and ante natal depression.

As well as giving out £112,847 in grants to ‘Our Community in Mind’, the Foundation also announced that it was donating more than £265,000 to 73 charities,.

This means it has allocated a total of £530,000 in community grants to 135 charities since the start of this year.

Brenda McMullan, Executive Director of the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, said the Our Community in Mind initiative was a response to the demand for better mental health services in Northern Ireland.

“Mental health charities in Northern Ireland do a fantastic job supporting our severely stretched Health Service.

"Over the years, the number of organisations in this area applying to us for funding has increased dramatically so we decided to launch our ‘Community in Mind’ initiative.

“The Foundation has been overwhelmed by the number of applications and by the high quality of applications for funding.

"In the end, we had to choose 12 very high quality applicants doing fantastic work tackling the scourge of mental health problems in the community.”

The organisations who have been awarded a total of £112,847 are:

• Act Initiative from West Belfast, £9,850 towards a mental health hub for young people in the Shankill area.
   
• Eating Disorders Association NI (South Belfast and NI wide) £8,000 towards a website update to include binge eating support.
   
• Educational Shakespeare Company from South Belfast £10,000 towards a film-making programme for patient prisoners in Shannon, Knockbracken.
   
• GROW NI from North Belfast £6,100 towards a dedicated area in the Waterworks to improve mental health.
   
• Jigsaw Community Counselling from North Belfast £10,000 to provide counselling to families suffering mental ill health.
   
• Life Change Changes Lives, Downpatrick £9,956 to provide counselling and rehab aftercare for those leaving hospital following mental health treatment.
   
• MYMY from Newcastle £8,941 for a counselling and resilience programme for those suffering mental ill health.
   
• North West Play Resource Centre, Derry £10,000 towards choir costs for those suffering with mental health problems.
   
• Sole Purpose, Derry and North Belfast £10,000 towards a theatre production of ‘Blinkered’ addressing suicide and mental ill health.
   
• St Peter’s Immaculata, West Belfast £10,000 towards Auricular Acupuncture for young people to improve their mental health.
   
• Support2gether, Omagh, Clogher and Lisnaskea £10,000 towards support for women suffering antenatal and postnatal depression.
   
• Zest Healing the Hurt, Derry and the West £10,000 for an emotional health programme delivered in schools including understanding suicide and self-harm.