Mahdlo (Oldham Youth Zone)
Registered Charity Number: 1134427
About the charity
We are a local charity that relies on the support and generosity of the Oldham community to keep our doors open and to provide the services our young people need.
Project name
Oldham districts five ways to well-being project for young people
Project overview
Our charity’s mission and vision is to deliver high quality activities and experiences for Oldham young people aged 8-25 to enhance the quality of their lives and provide support for those who need additional help to achieve their potential.
Our project will connect young people enabling them to discuss issues informally with youth workers, access drop-in counselling, art therapy and online support.
It will help young people to be active through weekly exercise-based activities including football, dance and boccia (for disabled children). Activity promotes higher mental wellness whilst increasing self-esteem, resilience and teamwork. It will help young people take notice through workshops on issues affecting young people’s lives including hate crime, bullying and body image. It will help young people learn new skills including in areas such as mental health and how to have difficult conversations. It will also help young people give back by becoming mental health ambassadors to support their peers. Activities will include inter-generational engagement with elderly community members through tea parties for example.
How the £50,000 grant will help
The funding will enable us to progress our project idea further by piloting a 12 month “5 ways to wellbeing project” which can be rolled out to our other settings. It will fund the youth work delivery, supervision, marketing/promotion and monitoring/evaluation.
It will enable us to deliver and embed art therapy as a tool to support young people to express their emotions. It will provide online safeguarding support so young people can immediately access online support for issues such as racism and bullying. It will equip our training coordinator with train the trainer Mental Health First Aid (MHFA). It will deliver MHFA and other training to the voluntary sector to provide sustainable capacity to respond to symptoms, and be confident having conversations regarding mental health. It will support young people to identify their needs and become empowered to positively change their behaviour.
Quotation
“We were ecstatic when we heard the news, we have a little bell we ring when we secure money so that was well and truly rung. I think what Ecclesiastical are trying to do and being part of that campaign, it’s absolutely massive not just for us but for charities across the UK.”
Michelle Vaughan and Elliot Gray, Mahdlo
