Mental Health Day: Supporting Children to Heal, Grow and Thrive

A safe and secure home is fundamental. But recovery is about more than having somewhere safe to sleep. Children may also need help processing what they have experienced, rebuilding their confidence, reconnecting with education, developing friendships or simply having opportunities to enjoy being children again.

In 2014, Buttle in partnership with City Bridge Trust launched the Anchor Programme, which was designed to support the transition to or to maintain independent living for families that have fled domestic abuse, with a particular focus on the children in these situations.

Several of our most experienced grants officers remember support workers identifying a clear need for therapy for these families.

From this programme, we learned the value of enabling support workers to find more individual and relevant ways to support these children. It also highlighted an important gap; while practical items for setting up a new home were often prioritised, children’s emotional, social and educational needs could sometimes receive less attention.

This shaped our current more holistic approach to our grants, one that looks beyond the immediate crisis and considers what children need to heal, grow and thrive.

Our Head of Grants, Ffion reflects, “supporting with wellbeing and education as well as the home was the whole point of Chances for Children Grants”.

The programme trusted the expertise of those working directly with families. As one of our Grants Development Officer Beth recalls, Buttle took a highly flexible approach, generally supporting requests that he felt were appropriate and suitable for the child and family.

That flexibility created space for something really important: individuality.

There is no single way to recover from trauma. For one child, a grant might enable access to therapy. For another, it might provide educational support, an activity that builds confidence, or an opportunity to develop an interest and form new friendships. Each of these things can contribute to mental health and wellbeing.

So, this Mental Health Day, we celebrate not only the support that has been provided, but the flexibility, trust and child-centred thinking behind it.