The Highland Health Board Endowment Funds charity (SC016791) is one of six NHS charities across the UK to receive funding from NHS Charities Together’s Innovation Challenge Fund.
- Fund sees £923,100 initial investment in innovative and transformational projects tackling health and healthcare inequalities for children and young people aged 0-18 over the next three years.
- Over the next 10 years, NHS Charities Together aims to invest £40million in the Innovation Challenge to help build a healthier future for all.
The Highland Health Board Endowment Funds charity (SC016791) is pleased to announce that it has been awarded £98,200 to support a ground-breaking project aimed at improving the mental health and wellbeing of children and young people in Lochaber and Inverness. This funding will enable NHS Highland’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) to lead a collaborative network of partners focused on reducing health inequalities through nature-connected and creative activities over the next two years. This launch coincides with Children’s Mental Health Week whose theme, ‘Know Yourself, Grow Yourself’, focusing on empowering children and young people to embrace self-awareness, something which is at the heart of this project.
The project will encourage collaboration between NHS Highland and community and voluntary organisations across the Highlands. By implementing a socially prescribed model of support, the initiative seeks to address a gap in services traditionally focused on adults, and tailor services specifically to young people. Importantly, young people’s voices will be at the heart of the project, ensuring that the services meet their unique needs. In addition to the funding from NHS Charities Together, the trustees of the charity have contributed £37,050 in match funding, demonstrating their commitment to this pioneering work.
Dr Nick Barnes, Psychiatrist with Highland CAMHS, said: “This is a hugely significant opportunity for children, young people and their families within Lochaber and Inverness. We are very aware of how hard it can be for some young people to access support, or even engage in what is available, and see this award as an opportunity to address this need. We are looking to build on the growing evidence that working and supporting young people in green, nature-based spaces and/or through creativity, can have a profound impact not only on the individual and their overall sense of wellbeing, but also the inequalities that compound children and young people’s mental health difficulties.
“Lochaber and Inverness have been chosen as we are looking to build on pilot projects that have been in development in these areas. One of the aims of the project will be to support the roll out of this approach across the whole of the Highlands, making this a sustainable offer for all children and young people.”
Philip MacRae, Chair of the Highland Health Board Charity Endowment Funds Committee added: “We’re thrilled to receive this funding from NHS Charities Together and to provide additional match funding from our own charity. This project will engage 250 young people and aims to establish a model of best practice for addressing mental health challenges and healthcare inequalities. Through collaboration with NHS Highland, schools, and community organisations, we are fostering innovation and co-production to create lasting, positive change”.
Jon Goodwin, Head of Grants at NHS Charities Together, said: “We’re delighted to award the Highland Health Board Endowment Funds charity £98,200 to support projects over the next three years. We know that sadly where someone is born can affect their long-term health, and this and other projects across the UK are aimed at tackling unfair health inequalities and giving every young person the support they need.”