Coasts
Two years ago, social entrepreneurs Penny Logsdail and Tom Strannix created a 10-week course to help young people learn how to achieve positive mental health. Developed in response to demand from teachers, they ran a pilot to test the programme and feedback from young people showed that there was an immediate need to help pupils manage their stress.
“There was a bit of an outcry,” explains Tom. “Schools and pupils all wanted the course. The kids wanted to be educated on how to maintain their own mental health. How to cope with the stresses they face at school – and in everyday life – like exam stress, eating disorders and how to build confidence.”
Tom and Penny ran the course with mental health charity Mind for a year, and subsequently accessed Learning and Skills Council (LSC) funding, but as grant funding became scarce they knew they needed to look for more a sustainable way to help them grow and cope with demand.
Setting up Coasts as a social enterprise and applying to Futurebuilders was a natural progression. An investment of £58,335 initially enabled them to recruit a development officer to help expand the service to a wider area and supported some further capacity building work. Coasts is now delivering its services in more than 20 schools, in partnership with the local Plymouth Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS).
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