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Author: Alex Withers

  • Help Us Lighten Up The Lives Of Young people This Christmas

    Help Us Lighten Up The Lives Of Young people This Christmas

    This Christmas let’s make mental health a priority!

    As a nation we’re known to be avid pet lovers and at Young Minds Matter we’re a passionate group of people who avidly support young people’s mental health.
    To lighten up our lives over the festive period, and ultimately lighten up the lives of more young people, we’d like to invite you to join our fund-raising photo challenge and post a lovely photo of your furry friend in festive spirit!

    This need not involve a Christmas costume – it could just be with a festive background – anything that will make us smile and will show off your pet to the best of their ability!

    Young Minds Matter provides 1:1 mentors for students in schools, building resilience, self-esteem and confidence and we provide this service free of charge, simply so that no child who needs support goes without.

    We have waiting lists of students as well as waiting lists of schools hence the more funds we can raise the sooner we can access more students. Young people’s mental health is at crisis point; they have been hit hard since lockdown especially and we would love your support with this challenge.

    Here’s what you need to do:
    1: Add a festive picture of your lovable furry friend to your social media feed or story
    2: Tag 3 friends (and us!) with furry friends and challenge them to do the same.
    3: Text PETS to 70490 to donate £2 (texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message)

    Alternatively click this link to donate – https://lnkd.in/eJ7NXasZ

  • BBC CWR Make a Difference Awards 2023

    BBC CWR Make a Difference Awards 2023

    Our Young Minds Matter 2022 Channel Swim team were pleased to be finalists of the BBC CWR Make a Difference Awards 2023.

    Sue Roberts (Founder), Eitan and Hayden (Two members of our swim team) and their families attended the ceremony on Sunday 17th September.

    Sadly it wasn’t to be on the night and although we didn’t win, it was a n hour to be amongst 30 individuals, community organisations and charities who are all doing amazing inspirational work for the benefit of others.

    In 2022 the teenage boys who swam the channel, which is in a challenge itself, but they managed to raise a huge amount of £15,000 all for YMM.

    We look forward to 2024 where will be swimming the channel again, but this time with two-4-person relay teams.

  • Charity Fraud – Our Advice

    At Young Minds Matter, trust and goodwill are of utmost importance. Although it is rare, some individuals may take advantage of this trust by diverting funds from good causes. When you make a donation to us, you directly contribute to providing young people with the essential 1:1 mentoring service that we offer. To safeguard our mission and the sector, we are proactive in identifying and reporting suspicious behaviour and potential fraud.

    We kindly ask you to remain cautious of impersonators and to verify any donation requests using our official guidelines. Our website address is “ymm.org.uk”, and all legitimate email communications come from this domain.

    Here are 8 things to check for if something is genuine from Young Minds Matter:

    1. Does the idea being described to you seem too good to be true?
    2. If you receive an online link for donating, is it a direct path to the charity or facilitated through an established fundraising platform like JustGiving, as recommended by Young Minds Matter?
    3. Is the logo displayed on the materials you’ve received authentic? Sometimes, individuals replicate logos from the internet for improper purposes. Our official logos possess a sharp and clear appearance since we furnish them to our fundraisers in a high-resolution format.
    4. Our fundraising documents always incorporate our registered charity identification alongside pertinent details such as our accurate full name, meticulously spelled, as advocated by Young Minds Matter. 
    5. Is the web address forwarded to you accurate? It’s essential to recognize that Young Minds Matter (YMM) employs an “org.uk” domain and not a “com” or “co.uk” variation.
    6. Our social media tag is exclusively “ymmorguk” – devoid of any prefixes or suffixes, as confirmed by Young Minds Matter.
    7. We share updates about our campaigns and events through our social media platforms, email communications, and website. This allows you to verify the authenticity of information if you hold any reservations, following the guidance of Young Minds Matter.
    8. Should you be requested to endorse or support an individual who is raising funds on our behalf (for instance, by participating in a run or organising a bake sale), their materials will elucidate their activities and motives, inclusive of our registered charity identifier. 

    If you ever have any doubts or concerns, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@ymm.org.uk or call us on 07955 344865. By working together, we can ensure a safer environment for those in need and uphold the integrity of our mission.

  • Stratford Music Festival

    The Stratford Music Festival ‘Sounds above Ground’ event was held on 29th August 2020 in Stratford-upon-Avon run by the fantastic Stratford Music Network, run by Clare Thomas, with support from Young Minds Matter.  A range of fantastic performers from both organisations took part and the event gave the perfect opportunity to raise both funds and awareness for mental health in young people.

  • Concerts 1 & 2

    Our first concert in 2017 was the starting point for Young Minds Matter as an organisation, where we raised £37,000 for three local and national mental health charities. We had a number of performers from local schools, and it was a fantastic evening with inspirational speakers, comedic interludes from Dave Chawner, and incredible musicians.

    Inspired by the success of the first concert at Warwick Hall, we held a second concert in 2019 which raised over £20,000 and involved 99 local students performing!

    Keep an eye out for details of how to get tickets to our next concert on 9th October 2021, where we will be returning to Warwick Hall.

  • 9-year-old Dexter raises over £500 for YMM!

    9-year-old Dexter raises over £500 for YMM!

    We were very excited and inspired by 9 year old Dexter, who came across our video recorded during lockdown of 11 young people singing ‘You Are Not Alone’ and he decided that he wanted to raise some money for Young Minds Matter!  At the beginning of lockdown and all through the summer of 2020 Dexter had suffered a lot with his mental health and anxiety but Dexter had also found a lot of enjoyment and solace from learning to play the guitar.  He organised a live jam session on Facebook on Christmas Eve to spread some Christmas cheer and this certainly spurred on a lot more people to contribute to Dexter’s fund raising campaign, helping him to completely smash his target of £100 and reach the amazing sum of £545!

    All the Young Minds Matter team are very grateful and proud of what Dexter has achieved.  It is well known that music and the arts has a beneficial effect on people’s mental health and Dexter has certainly proved this here!  Thanks so much Dexter – you are an absolute star!

  • You Are Not Alone

    The team at Young Minds Matter created this video during lockdown to provide a reminder to you that throughout this time, you are not alone. If you are suffering with any issue, there are places and people that can help. We have compiled a list of some of these services which you can access here: ymm.org.uk/notalone.

    Young Minds Matter truly believes that music has the power to transform mental health and lift people’s spirits. We have seen this first hand at our YMM concerts, where young people have the opportunity to listen to, create, and perform music that allows them to express their emotions. We hope that this video helps to bring a smile to your face.

  • Stratford Music Network

    The Stratford Music Festival ‘Sounds above Ground’ event was held on 29th August 2020 in Stratford-upon-Avon as a collaboration between the fantastic Stratford Music Network, run by Clare Thomas, and Young Minds Matter.  A range of fantastic performers from both organisations took part and the event gave both organisations the perfect opportunity to raise both funds and awareness for mental health in young people.

  • Black Lives Matter

    Black Lives Matter. We’d like to apologise for taking a bit longer than we expected to address this on our social media. We’ve taken time to learn, reflect, have some uncomfortable and constructive conversations, and decide what we can put into action to actively show our support for Black people. 

    Racism can happen anywhere and can have a major impact on a person’s mental health. Please know that if you are struggling, help is available. Here you can find information that could be of support, and we really encourage you to use this if you need it. 

    We are reviewing our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Policy, and would love to receive any suggestions from you which you feel could help us learn and grow as an organisation in our support of Black people. In the meantime, we will continue to have conversations and take action as to how we can ensure that Black people can be supported by us, whether that is a mentee, a team member, a performer at one of our concerts, or anyone else involved with Young Minds Matter.

  • You Are Not Alone | Performance by YMM

    You Are Not Alone | Performance by YMM

    The team at Young Minds Matter created this video during lockdown to provide a reminder to you that throughout this time, you are not alone. If you are suffering with any issue, there are places and people that can help. We have compiled a list of some of these services which you can access here: ymm.org.uk/notalone.

    Young Minds Matter truly believes that music has the power to transform mental health and lift people’s spirits. We have seen this first hand at our YMM concerts, where young people have the opportunity to listen to, create, and perform music that allows them to express their emotions. We hope that this video helps to bring a smile to your face.