Cash boost for mental health charity as it looks to support those on Covid-19 frontline

Escape Intervention Services Ltd, based at Long Row in South Shields, has received £64,686 in funding from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund.

The charity – which has helped thousands of young people and their families with their mental health and wellbeing since it launched in 2008 – applied for the funds in June, with the grant coming into effect on September 1.

And the grant is something the charity appreciates all the more after battling back from the brink of closure in 2018 when its funding ended.

Service manager and charity founder Lynne Yousef, is overjoyed with the funding, which will provide online, phone and face-to-face counselling and support services, along with activities, over a six month period.

“Getting this funding is absolutely amazing,” she said.

"It will make such a big difference; helping us to be sustainable, to employ a full time counsellor for six months and expand our activity programme.”

The activity programme involves youngsters aged 11 to 25 in the likes of kayaking, climbing and day trips to support their mental health.

Lynne added: "Since opening our office on July 6 we have measures in place so we can go back to providing face to face counselling and also run sessions to combat the likes of social isolation and obesity.

"The outdoor activities help to combat anxiety and depression – once people have been at home it can be difficult to go back into the community and people can experience heightened anxiety and depression.”

The charity – which has also received a £10,000 grant from the Greggs Foundation Covid-19 programme – will continue to offer counselling sessions to those aged four to 25, as well as their parents and carers.

But thanks to the grant funding, it will now offer counselling to those working on the frontline of the pandemic.

"We will now be able to provide counselling to forntline staff such as doctors and nurses which will hopefully help them to deal with their experience of Covid-19, with being under even higher levels of pressure and extreme working conditions,” Lynne said.

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