Lancing-based youth charity receives significant grant to support “unsung heroes.”

November 2, 2023

Electric Storm Youth has received a significant grant from the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation, to support the vital work it undertakes with young carers.

Electric Storm Youth (ESY) has received a significant grant from the Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation (EHCF), to support the vital work it undertakes with young carers.

Commenting on being awarded the grant, John Randall ESY’s fundraiser said “On behalf of the charity and our young carers, we are absolutely delighted to receive this significant grant which recognises the vital work we undertake in supporting young carers in Lancing and Sompting.“

John continues, “Young carers have complex needs and often feel socially isolated from their peers. This leads to stress, anxiety and in some cases specific mental health issues which need to be urgently addressed. The grant will enable us to continue to provide much needed support and counselling services to 30 individual young carers. This will take place at the Sir Robert Woodard Academy and in our general youth sessions.”

In the words of one young carer “The young carers session provides me with help and support when I've

had a bad week or month and want to talk about it but may not even know how to start. It is a safe space for a chat in a confidential, non-judgemental way.”

In awarding the grant the Trustees of EHCF said, “We felt that young carers are such unsung heroes, and we really liked the idea of a project that recognises the role they play and the burden they are under and offers them the space and opportunity to offload some of the pressure, concerns and stresses on their lives that so often get overlooked.”

John concludes, “Our work with young carers is just one of many projects we run to support young people in Lancing and Sompting. Our youth team take a holistic and non-judgemental approach to working with young people and understand the complex factors that affect their lives.”

“In addition to our young carers programme we also run mental health counselling, general youth sessions, LGBTQ+ sessions, street-based (detached) youth work, mentoring and work-experience.”The body content of your post goes here. To edit this text, click on it and delete this default text and start typing your own or paste your own from a different source.

About Electric Storm Youth

Founded in 2007, Electric Storm Youth (ESY) is a youth work charity based in Lancing, West Sussex. We run a full range of youth-based programmes, including young carers support, mental health counselling, general youth sessions, LGBTQ+ sessions, street-based (detached) youth work, mentoring and work-experience.

ESY currently support around 200 young people by working to improve their personal and social development, teaching them new skills, and improving the quality of their lives.

The charity’s main challenge is the increasing demand for its services, especially from the more marginalised groups such as young carers and those with mental health problems.

Lancing contains areas that are in the 20% most deprived wards nationally and in the 10% most deprived areas in terms of education, skills and training. All of this means that many local young people come from low-income households and as well as financial constraints placed on families, young people report they face other challenges growing up in the area such as drugs, alcohol and smoking, mental health problems, boredom and a lack of things to do. Young people also report low self-esteem, low self-confidence and a lack of belief in themselves.

About Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation

The Foundation was set up in 2003 by the late Ernest Hecht, one of England’s major independent book publishers.

The Foundation’s primary objective is to support the work of UK registered charities by awarding grants that benefit the disadvantaged and promote the advancement of the arts and education.

It awards grants that will make a difference in a particular field, especially for the vulnerable, the young, and the elderly.

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