A HAGHILL charity have revealed their plans to tackle the growing mental health crisis they have witnessed throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Founded last year to support children in the area, East End Empowering Stars have been delivering a wide range of initiatives to support people.
READ MORE: Dr Punam Krishan: Children’s mental health must be prioritised
Speaking to the Glasgow Times, founder Mitchell Gavin said he realised there was a need for a charity to tackle mental health issues when going round the doors in the East End at the beginning of lockdown. He said: “You could go to a door one day and see a child happy but the next week, you could go and see a child looking depressed.
"We’re out in the community so we’re seeing the impact Covid is having.”
Mitchell and his team have launched counselling service for children and young people in the coming weeks after receiving emails from schools and parents asking if they were doing any mental health support.
After seeing the demand for these services, the organisation has reached out to private counselling organisations for children already on the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services waiting list. Children who have been waiting longer than two months will be offered counselling sessions, delivered by registered professionals and funded by East End Empowering Stars.
Mitchell added: “We’ve got a trustee who is a councillor and she’s been devoting her time to doing calls to teachers, support groups, scavenger hunts and competitions - we’ve just been trying to do as much as we can.”
The charity has also been distributing packs throughout the community - mainly to residents living in Haghill and relies mainly on donations from local people.
As well as that, East End Empowering Stars also hosts online first aid and mental heatlh awareness workshops and fitness classes. Volunteers distributed arts and crafts packs to children across the area over the weekend for a “create your own plate” competition.
Running solely on donations from the general public and the generosity of local businesses, Mitchell has appealed to readers to donate what they can. He said: “We’re not looking for £10 or £20. Anything will do, even £1, 50p, 10p. Even £2.50 means we can go to a pantry to get a family a week’s shop.”
Readers wishing to contribute to the fund can do so by clicking here.
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