Its been almost 4 weeks since the first term at The Nest concluded, and it's taken almost all of that time to process what an amazing 12 weeks it was. Firstly I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to our amazing young people and their families who trusted us, a brand new charity, to help them in their mental health journey. It's been an absolute honour to work with every single one of our young people and I am so grateful for their trust in us as we (under the watchful and expert eye of Dr Beth Mosley) help them understand their mental health.
Secondly I'd like to thank the schools who have supported us through this trial period, and gone out of their way to do their own due diligence whilst we worked with the local council to get approval. Starting a provision like The Nest is a real chicken and egg situation - you need to be operational to get approval, but you also need to be approved to be operational, and I am so grateful to the schools, council and NHS for their support through this process. I am delighted to say that we are now on the Suffolk County Council rolling select list for alternative provision which will make the process for referral from schools much easier, We are also delighted to say we are now in a position to work with the Integrated Care Board (which combines council, local NHS and mental health services) to help more young people in the local area.
I have been supported since the end of April by in incredible team of volunteers, overseen by our farm manager Stephen. The team have been invaluable and it's been a pleasure getting to know them all and see them enjoying the farm as much as our young people. I'm delighted to say that many of our volunteers are staying on with us next term. A huge thanks as well to Gabby, Mags and Kirsten, 3 good friends of mine who stepped in at the last minute as volunteers when we were short of a pair of hands.
We were fortunate to receive a private donation to fund the pilot, and that support has been invaluable - without it we would not be where we are. We are continuing to apply for grants left right and centre, and have a steady trickle of donations coming in, but until we have submitted our first year accounts at the end of September, many funding opportunities are still not available to us - start-up funding for the third sector is bizzarely non-existent. We do however have our first marathon runner!! A huge thanks so Superman Kev who will be running the Woodbridge Marathon for The Nest, so keep an eye out for our logo on his shirt!
As we look ahead to September, I can’t wait to get started again. Under the guidance of our amazing board of Trustees we have a robust plan in place for the next 12 months. This will mean we can offer more spaces, to more young people, and with hopefully some more financial support we will be able to improve our facilities, get some more animals, and improve our mental health support to the young people of Suffolk and their families,
I cannot believe we have already come this far, and I can’t wait to see where we are by Christmas!!!
As ever, if you would like to get involved with The Nest or if you know someone that might benefit from our provision then please do not hesitate to get in touch,
Hannah