The Weald Family Hub
What is the Weald Family Hub?
The Weald Family Hub was conceived in response to rising concerns about mental illness in young people in the Wealden community. Its aim is to connect the community with people, projects and organisations that support young people and their families who are struggling with issues of mental health and is focussed on becoming a key local network of support for the Wealden villages. If you would like to receive regular updates about The Hub and the projects we're working on then please sign up here for our monthly newsletter.
There is an epidemic of mental ill health amongst young people today. Locally, many of us have been personally affected by issues of mental illness amongst our own children, those of friends, or more broadly in the community around us.
An NHS report released in 2021 about the mental health of children and young people in England raises significant concerns about the prevalence of mental health disorders in children and young people and indicates that one in six 5 to 19 year olds had a mental disorder when assessed. That equates to over 2500 young people in this area alone.
Partnerships
The Weald Family Hub has connected local churches, schools and individuals to fund its work, in addition to funding from the Weald Deanery (part of Canterbury Diocese). Through the funding support of the Weald schools, coupled with match funding from the Parish Churches and the Deanery itself, The Hub has been working in earnest since September 2018.
The Hub works in partnership with Fegans, a highly respected charity that specialises in working with children’s mental illness. Fegans provides commissioned counselling for the children we support.
What support does the Weald Family Hub offer?
The Hub focuses on three key areas:
to provide subsidised 1:1 counselling, by Fegans professional counsellors, to pupils in thirteen local Primary and Secondary Schools
to give Primary and Secondary Schools access to trained volunteer mentors able to work 1:1 with students, with a particular focus on school transition and those approaching exams
to offer community-based information to raise awareness, build knowledge and increase resilience related to mental health in schools and in the community.
The Weald Family Hub is currently incorporated within Goudhurst St Mary’s Church. It has a co-ordinator, who works closely with local churches, schools and community groups who have a shared interest and commitment to the issues of mental health and who works two days a week.
How is the Weald Family Hub making a difference?
We are now in the fourth year of our work and we are still fully committed to continue our mission to make mental health support affordable, accessible and available across the Wealden Villages. Since we started our work we have achieved the following:
We have provided subsidised professional mental health counselling to more than 150 children in local Primary Schools who wouldn’t ordinarily have been able to access it
We have extended the counselling provision we offer schools from 12 weeks in the first year to 18 weeks per child in the second year, which far exceeds the initial statutory provision offered which is currently 6 weeks. For schools with greater needs we are able to offer 36 weeks of support
We have trained 8 local volunteers to act as mentors in local Primary and Secondary Schools and have supported 18 students
What happens next?
The issues facing children, families and communities cannot be addressed by any single organisation alone and this is an entirely local initiative. We have no funding other than that which is given by people who want to make a difference to the lives of children, young people and families. The Weald Family Hub continues to raise funds in order to be able to do even more, not least to extend the subsidised counselling to all the schools in the Kent Weald, as not all could be accommodated initially.
How can you make a difference?
If you are able to contribute to this work, whether it be through donating your time or a financial contribution, all is valued and greatly appreciated and will make a real difference to the lives of young people and their families who are challenged by issues of mental health in our community. Please contact us at wealdfamilyhub@gmail.com or call 01580 211739. Please note that if you wish to make a donation by cheque, all cheques should be made payable to Weald Family Hub and sent to the Church Office, The Vicarage, Back Lane, Goudhurst, TN17 1AN. For online donations please contact Becky in the Church Office at becky.addis@gkchurch.org
More information
If you'd like to keep in touch, you can sign up for our newsletter here. It goes out every month with a mixture of updates, resources about young people and mental health and links to other local organisations.
If you would like to know more or have any questions, please contact us at wealdfamilyhub@gmail.com
News and helpful links
BEAT
A leading charity supporting anyone affected by eating disorders or any other difficulties with food, weight and shape. https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/
Fegans Understanding This Generation conference
Over 220 people representing over 35 churches from across the South East attended a series of inspirational and informative talks highlighting the need for us to act now as a community to support young people
Mental Health of Children and Young People in England 2021, - wave 2 follow up of the 2017 report
Summary of key findings, published by NHS Digital, September 2021, can be found here
Fegans
Fegans provides a full range of professional counselling services for Primary and Secondary school pupils throughout London and the South East. BACP registered counsellors are all fully qualified to work with parents and children to enable them to manage their lives, build relationships and make positive choices. https://www.fegans.org.uk/
The Weald Family Hub launch event
In June 2018 we launched the Weald Family Hub with a talk by Ian Soars, the Chief Executive of Fegans and a leading voice in the field of young people, families and mental health. You can listen to his talk here. From the same event you can also listen to Rev. Hugh Nelson speaking about the plans for the Weald Family Hub.
The Weald Family Hub
Connecting the community with people, projects & organisations to support young people & their families who are struggling with issues of mental health across the Wealden villages