PETT – Supporting young people’s mental health

The challenge for society today is the mental health of young people, with increased social media and online use, many young people struggle emotionally.  At a time when mental health support is not fully funded, where can young people turn?

Thankfully, they can turn to Visyon, a charity that was started 25 years ago by local Cheshire parents who were determined that their children got the right help at the right time to support their mental and emotional wellbeing.

Today, Visyon works with over 1,200 children and young people and their families across Cheshire and North Staffordshire per year.  Many families have different issues, but Visyon helps them to overcome their challenges which can stem from bereavement or anxiety, through to family breakdown and bullying.

The outcome Visyon hope to achieve is to help these young people and their families be happy and healthy, but as with all charities they rely on fundraising efforts to survive.

Counselling matters

To help families Visyon provide counselling services to young people for free, but at a cost of £40 for an individual session and £150 for a group session, with the minimum requirement being six sessions, the costs soon add up.

“We need to keep the funds coming in to make sure that we have money in the pot so that we don’t have to turn people away.”  Says Lee Fullerton, Visyon’s Marketing and Communications Executive.

“We also like to provide other self-care items which have worked well in the past.  We created a ‘Journey’ book which helped over 11’s to continue their counselling journey after the sessions had finished. We wanted to create one for under 11’s too, but as with all these things there are costs involved.” said Lee.

PETT has recently donated £1,600 to Visyon which was raised at their Winter Wonderland event.  This donation will fund the design and print of 5,000 ‘This is Me!’ booklets for children aged 11 and under.

“With PETT’s help, we can help young children to carry on the wonderful counselling work when they leave the centre. The ‘This is me!’ booklets help to continue their positive journey at home, which really helps these children to be happy and healthy.” Said Lee.

Next steps

“We will be focusing on continuing the good work we do with young people in the coming year.  We cannot thank PETT enough for their support and the way it enables us to help these young people is invaluable.  Helping them to be happy is our ultimate goal.”

If you would like to support Visyon please visit http://www.visyon.org.uk/

For more information about PETT visit www.pett.uk.com