All this month I have focused my social media on the Foundation we run as part of Bemoore. It’s been quite a journey and a real learning curve getting to the point we are now – ready to welcome our first funded 121 placements and taking on two coaches to help us widen the reach!
It’s a whole different world to private practise – you advertise , people respond , they pay you and so on – in this world I have learned so much about funding, registering a CIC, gaining awareness, fund raising and generally everything that goes along with wanting to make a difference but building the trust of people that you really are doing what you say !
And with the impact of COVID 19 coming along just as we had finished trials in a school and were ready to really take off … well it has also been quite frustrating. Knowing that now more than ever young people need support with their mental wellness and not feeling able to take that next step forward in our work.
But here we are … and as I said at the beginning it’s all coming together now.
But why a Foundation?
Great question ! – The idea for a teenage program was given to me by participants at one of my Find Your Roar workshops – could I do something for teenagers that also focused on self esteem and confidence ?
And so initially I created my Roaring4Lifwe program as part of my practise – 121 and focused on young women. As a mum and step mum 3 girls – seeing them grow up, seeing the different challenges faced and knowing my own challenges as a teenager it seemed to be the best choice of where to focus.
However, it was soon really clear that many young women would be missed out. I am firm believer that you need 2 things in place to access private support,
Take either of these away and you will fall through the cracks. Now we have some great organisations already et up but funding and resourcing mean waiting lists can be months even for those high risk.
And so, the idea for the Foundation was created. A way to provide support for those who could not access private practise and build it into an organisation that was known for providing a stable platform of self esteem and a safe place to be heard.
Whilst the Foundation has big plans for future to support other demographics, I kept with young women focus – taking my R4life program into a school and creating a group program!
Now I have to say being faced with a group of young adults who were facing their own difficulties and in some cases were pretty vocal about it was daunting it – but the after two trials we knew it was a success and the feedback from the participants was brilliant.
However of course plans were put on hold with schools having to close completely – I didn’t feel the workshop would run as well over zoom and didn’t feel the girls taking part would get the full benefit of being there in person with them.
So, it was time for a re think – not to mention navigating a world where even huge charities were struggling to raise funds with the lack of events being able.
I am super proud that we kept focused and made the decision to revert back to 121 placements initially. Word started to get round and our first sponsors came on board … and here we are today.
We have funding for just a couple of 121 placements, but we also have found two amazing new coaches who will be joining the team and helping us to grow.
We are eligible now for our first official Go Fund Me page and are on a mission to raise 10K , enabling us to provide numerous 121 placements, be available for talks on mental wellness and work with other organisations that also support young women.
As a teenager I went through a very dark time – I was bullied , ended up being home schooled and used food as a means of controlling my weight and my situation. I was convinced my external self would change how people saw me – make me popular … and of course that isn’t true. I didn’t have to deal with the on line 24/7 world my participants deal with and I really don’t know how that would have gone – no off switch available.
What I do know is that I had access to a wonderful home tutor =- someone who listened, someone who introduced me to new things such as yoga which has become a life long love for me … I began to feel better about myself with her and others support … but I also know that if I had access to coaching and therapy the healing would have bee that much greater and sooner.
So please help us create that safe place.
I have never ‘ asked’ for money before – but just a one-off donation would be amazing, or you can become a monthly sponsor – £25 a month over 1 year will put one young women through the R4Life program and give ongoing follow up support.
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