Last year, their generous funding allowed us to significantly expand our work supporting the mental health of children and young people in Devon and Cornwall.
As this funding cycle comes to an end, we want to shout about the profound impact their support has had. Their vital grant, made possible by the players of People’s Postcode Lottery, has been absolutely crucial in enabling us to deliver mental health support to children and young people across Devon and Cornwall.
Thank you for helping us make a real difference!
Over this last year, we have provided support to thousands of parents via our free, online course ‘The Horizon Plan’, which teaches parents to better support a child or young people struggling with mental health. The Horizon Plan now has 1417 enrolled parents and is recommended by NHS trusts and NHS Recovery Colleges across the UK, including Devon Partnership NHS Trust.
We have delivered five of our year long Power2Parent groups for parents in Devon wanting to better support a child or young person struggling with mental health. 55 parents joined the Power2parent programme at a point when their young person was facing severe mental health difficulties, with families feeling alone, unsupported, and experiencing lengthy waits for help from the NHS and mental health services. 98% of these said that the programme had been “very helpful”, 98% said the topics covered had been “very helpful” and 96% told us that they felt “very comfortable and supported” by the programme ☺️
We also decided to evaluate the effectiveness of delivering the Power2Parent programme via Zoom (instead of in-person meetings). We successfully delivered two Power2Parent cohorts via Zoom for parents living in Torbay, with a third funded to begin later in 2025. Our evaluation is that Zoom delivery is really effective and better suits many parents and also significantly supports our plans to expand the programme to support parents nationally.
After initially referring families to the programme, South Hams Family Hub (run by Devon County Council) invited us to pilot the delivery of a Power2Parent group from their centre. This cohort started in January 2025 with 10 participating familes and we hope will grow to run in the four hundred Family Hubs across the UK.
Another big piece of news was Devon County Council (DCC) assessing our Power2Parent programme and qualifying it for Early Help funding. This is HUGE for us. Parents of young people living in Devon can now apply for up to £400 of DCC funding to join a Power2Parent group. We plan to build awareness of this eligibility amongst our referral partners, and run many more Power2Parent groups using DCC Early Help funding. Looking to the future, we plan to qualify the Power2Parent programme in other local authorities across the UK, allowing many more families in need to get our support.
It’s so powerful to hear the parents and carers speak about how they found their Power2Parent programme.
Here’s a message we were sent by a parent over Whatsapp: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12hDt0qR26SRH-Ly-dce3PfkmBvxmuTtW/view?usp=sharing
And here is a recording of parents from our last in-person group: https://pod.fo/e/287c24
We asked the parents and carers to write a few words of feedback at the end of each group session, a selection of which I’ve popped at the end of this post.
Our Facebook Support Group for parents of young people struggling with mental health is going from strength to strength. This free online community currently has over 2700 members and provides peer support and signposting to families supporting a young person struggling with their mental health
Since July 2024, we have delivered 22 assemblies and 17 workshops with schools in Devon and Cornwall to build mental health resilience and self-esteem in young people. Our work in schools this past year has benefitted approximately 9580 children and young people.
Our assemblies and workshops:
(1) improved mental health resilience and self-esteem in young people;
(2) destigmatised mental health, making it easier for young people to ask for help;
(3) educated young people to accept, respect and celebrate their differences and dreams;
(4) increased awareness, acceptance and understanding of neurodiversity (ADHD, autism, dyslexia, etc.). We received some amazing feedback from schools:
“Superb morning with relevant. well-paced discussions and activities. Children all identified their strenghts and place in the world. All children very engaged and positive througout. I found it thought-provoking as an adult too” Harbertonford Primary
“The session leaders were excellent. They shared brilliant experiences and understanding with the children. Focusing on differences,inspiring the children to be kind. Children came away from the session understanding that they are genius and different that they shouldn’t compare to other children. Would recomment to anyone.” Alphington Primary School
“This was such a useful & appropriate workshop for children in this age group. Lots are getting a diagnosis of neurodiversity and this helps them to feel positive about this in themselves & in their peers.” Newton Ferrers CofE Primary School
So to round things up, our small team at the Youth Mental Health Foundation envisage a world where young people have mental health resilience, and every parent and carer has the knowledge, skills, and confidence to support a child in crisis.
Funding from the People’s Postcode Trust has been absolutely vital and so impactful, helping us work towards our goal.
Thank you!
P.S. Here’s what our parents and carers said:
“Sessions have been great + very informative as always. So interesting to learn about these topics. Check-ins are great. Really feel heard by all 3 leaders.”
“Brilliant, I appreciate having time to reflect upon our own life and how I can support my child to heal.”
“Quite brilliant. I feel so positive & optimistic & hopeful every time I attend. Lovely to see our situation a fresh.”
“Claire was leading the session tonight. She is very empathetic & understanding & gives everyone time to share their stories”.
“I love the poster work because I can see how important it is to build up a positive image/perspective if your child & support us from not falling down the hole ourselves, but also to support our child’s positive self-image.”
“Thank you for running this, it is helping me so much.”
“Everything is excellent as always. Positive & lifts our spirits.”
“Always feel listened to + supported topics so far a spot on with what I need to learn about. Friendly + supportive + clear.”
“Finding it very helpful to equip myself with tools to be a better parent.”
“This group leaders are always supportive and clear in their objectives.”
“Great session, really helpful, I love the openness and honesty of the sessions.”
“The sessions have been great so far. very helpful and lots of ideas to take away.”
“Just total appreciation + admiration. Thank you”
“Great to be reminded about how important sharing time together, even if you’re not conversing. Just making the time to hang out.”
“Hearing real experiences. I find it really helpful.”
“Excellent, very interesting & inclusive. reassuring that others have similar experiences.”
“I have found the support and encouragement from the group to be really helpful. The acceptance of what we go through as individuals and sharing our bad moments as well as our successes is really great.”
“Really good to recap the ladder & that it’s important to try to remain stable, strong, optimistic parent.”
“Team leaders are great. Always enjoy Calvin’s input.”
“Thank you. I was lost and hoping for somebody to help.”
“Really good sound advice given when asking a question. All the leaders make me feel really welcome.”
“I really like the facilitators sharing their experiences as encouraging people in the group to share.”
“I have been amazed by the facilitators. Touched by their sharing and feel very appreciative of what they are offering.”
“So far, the experience has been very supportive. I think it helps being with other parents, knowing that it’s not just you dealing with a child who is struggling.”
“It’s been very beneficial in all aspects.”
“It’s wonderful to see how everyone has progressed through the program so far.”
“I’ve been unsure whether we’re doing the right thing by going down the route of getting my son assessed. It’s really helpful to hear the view from the group , and now I feel more confident we’re doing the right thing.”
“So welcoming and encouraging, and the sense of humor helps us all feel better uplifted.”