MODEL CITY: ACHIEVING A ‘REAL SENSE OF CHANGE’
Laureus Sport for Good invests in programmes that use the power of sport to engage with young people with the goal of ending violence, discrimination and disadvantage in their communities. Through funding grants and partnerships worth more than £150million over the last 20 years, it has changed the lives of more than six million children. In the second part of this two-part article, our reporter Emily Salley speaks to the co-ordinators leading Laureus’ groundbreaking ‘Model City’ programme in London (All images produced before the pandemic).
Model City London is a programme launched by Laureus Sport for Good in 2018 which aims to give local people the power to drive social change and integration through sport and physical activity.
Mental health organisation partners with Haringey Council to support families affected by crime
LONDON-BASED mental health organisation, Find A Balance (FAB), has been commissioned by Haringey Council to provide support for parents of local children affected by or involved in crime in the area. The initiative, running until March 2020, aims to support 20 families through a bespoke 24 week plan, which offers therapy to the primary caregivers of 11 to 15 year olds across a range of issues, including habitual drug use, emotional triggers and understanding trauma.
Underlying the movement is the hope that a better supported group of parents and carers will lead to a more stable life away from crime for the borough’s teens. Following its success, FAB is aiming to roll the program out across other London boroughs.
New mental health service aims to help break the ‘taboo’ in BAME communities
While mental health is now much more openly discussed and accepted among the UK population than it once was, it is still much more of a taboo subject within black and ethnic minority communities.
However, a social enterprise called Find A Balance has been established in Hackney to help young people with mental health conditions. The service specialises in black and ethnic minority mental health issues, although it is open to all races and communities. Francis works with young people aged between eight and eighteen, eighteen and over. Find A Balance – FAB, started in November 2016 and offers vital support to individuals and families who suffer in silence from mental health issues.