We are also celebrating the fact we have now distributed close to 215,000 Where To Find Help cards; spreading a far and wide reminder of some of the vital help available to young people during challenging times. We have recently updated these pocket-sized cards to include the NHS 111 details, where users can select ‘mental health help’ for urgent help or advice.
If you need support, you can still contact someone you trust for help. You are not alone and it is OK not to be OK.
This newsletter contains mentions of suicide and self-harm. If you need support text MRF to 85258 to message a trained volunteer.
Get involved
Our thanks goes to everyone at Cannon Lane Primary School in Pinner, who this month donned colourful accessories to support Molly Rose Foundation for their second Purple Day fundraiser. All children and staff were invited to wear purple accessories such as hairbands, ties or socks to school on Friday 16th May and make a donation to charity.
A spokesperson for the school said: “Throughout the week, our pupils took part in a range of thoughtful and meaningful activities. We wrote ‘thank you’ postcards to members of our local community to spread kindness and appreciation. In class, we completed mental health booklets to explore our feelings and learn ways to look after our minds. At playtime, our playground came alive with colour as we chalked positive messages for everyone to see—reminding each other to be kind, brave, and proud of who we are.“Together, we’re helping to break the stigma around mental health and showing that even the smallest acts of kindness can make a big difference.”We also send our thanks to Charterhouse School in Guilford, which hosted a Purple Day too as part of its participation in Children’s Mental Health Week in February, raising £2,000.
There are lots of ways to get involved with Molly Rose Foundation and help fundraise for our vital work in suicide prevention targeted towards young people.
Our supporters have held bake sales, school ‘Purple Days’ and participated in sponsored fitness activities including yoga and even marathons. We have places in the London and Brighton Marathon events next year and we’ll be inviting potential runners to apply for a place in these events in the summer. If you have any questions before then, please contact us at hello@mollyrosefoundation.org
Whatever your chosen initiative, we can supply resources including donation tins and QR-coded banners and special Molly Rose Foundation-branded merchandise.
If you’d like to get involved, please email us your idea and some details at hello@mollyrosefoundation.org
Education, training and support
Training
From next week we will advertise our next batch of training courses on our newly revamped training page; whether it’s how to become a Youth Mental Health First Aid Champion, ways to open a crucial conversation about Suicide First Aid, our What is Mental Health two-hour workshop or our My Bag of Happiness activity for schoolchildren.
We will update this page regularly with the new courses we add so please check it regularly.
My Bag of Happiness
Suitable for children aged between 7-11, the My Bag of Happiness scheme supports PSHE lessons and encourages children to create and collect happy memories, enabling them to reflect upon these and gain strength when needed.Feedback tells us this initiative is empowering for the children who take part and equips them with vital tools with which to express themselves. If you are a teacher or parent and would like to receive one or more of these Molly Rose Foundation-designed My Bag of Happiness packs please contact us via training@mollyrosefoundation.org to submit your request, letting us know the relevant information (including your name, address, contact details, number of packs required etc). Any additional background details you can provide us with about why you’d like one or more of these packs would also be appreciated.Molly Rose Foundation staff are also available to run workshops using the packs and will happily come into schools in the London area to do this. Our trainers are DBS checked and are used to working with children in schools. To arrange a workshop please contact us at: training@mollyrosefoundation.org
We’d particularly love to hear from schools about to see off their Year 6 pupils as we can offer Bag of Happiness initiatives to them ahead of their journeys to secondary school in September.
Donations directly to the My Bag of Happiness initiative can be made here.
News
Chief Executive Andy Burrows composed an op-ed arguing a stronger Online Safety Act would protect children and boost the economy to the tune of £4bn. Citing DSIT’s own figures suggesting that a strengthened Act, reducing exposure to online harms by 15 per cent, would deliver at least this much in annualised economic return, Andy asked the question why this government is seemingly so unwilling to act on unashamedly pro-growth, pro-safety policies.
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Molly Rose Foundation is deeply dismayed by the lack of ambition in Ofcom’s Protection of Children’s Code, published late last month. Ofcom has chosen to put the economic interests of tech companies before the urgency of tackling online safety risks; thus the underpinning Act must now be urgently reviewed.
In our view, the measures fail to rise to the challenge of protecting children from algorithmically-driven preventable harm. You can read our full briefing here.
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We are delighted to announce the appointment of Joanne Neale as our new Head of Fundraising.
Jo joined Molly Rose Foundation in May to build the income-generating activities of the charity as it grows, bringing 18 years of experience working in the charity fundraising sector. Throughout her career she has worked for charities of varying sizes and gathered expertise across all areas of fundraising including events, direct marketing, community fundraising and corporate relationship building, with a specialism in bid-writing.
Jo has always worked for people-centred causes, and feels strongly about campaigning for positive social change and advocating for good mental health. Having followed Molly’s story over the years, and with two teenage children of her own, MRF is a charity close to her heart.
She said: “I’m really excited and privileged to join the Molly Rose Foundation at this pivotal point in their journey to help grow the reach of charity and raise the collective voice of children and young people in the battle to reduce online harm”.
Jo will lead our fundraising activities and build strong partnerships to enable us to develop our activities, so keep an eye out for more ways to get involved with MRF over the coming months.
To see more MRF news and press releases, please visit our news section.
Support in crisis
This year so far, we have sent out 23,210 Where To Find Help cards in response to 80 requests. Since the charity began operating, we have distributed close to 215,000.
These popular pocked-sized help cards feature four different messages of reassurance and provide information signposting children and young people to mental health support services.
Some of our recent feedback: “These cards will be used at our dermatology acne clinic for patients aged 12 and over.”
“We ordered these cards for Mental Health Awareness Week to distribute to parents at the school gate.”
We also welcome requests from universities, colleges and schools. If you are an individual with a connection to any of these, please get in touch.
Each box contains approximately 140 cards with a list of recommended organisations that can help in varying circumstances. On the reverse side you’ll find printed one of four different inspiring quotes.
If you require more than one box, please state how many in the comments section online and we will arrange delivery of any amount required.
Other ways to support us
Become a regular donor – Click here to view our Enthuse platform, where you can view fundraising events already in place and where you can take the opportunity to start fundraising yourself. Alternatively, click here where you can make a donation directly.
