The Shine Project

The Pitch

Problem statement

At Shine we have witnessed a steady increase in mental health issues, According to the Department of Education more than one in three teen girls suffer from anxiety or depression. There is a culture of ‘maning up’ which, among other issues prevents young men from asking for help and accessing support at an early stage. Potentially contributing to “suicide being highest cause of death among men under the age 45” – Dr Funke Balfour. Low levels of wellbeing in young people can cause them to become socially isolated, academic standards can fall; they are less likely to pursue their goals. Risk of self-harm, eating disorders, substance abuse, crime and lack of engagement in school increase.

Solution

Shine offers early intervention physical and mental health courses for young people aged 11-15 . These courses provide students the opportunity to explore subjects in small groups of up to 12 people, covering areas in self-acceptance, flaws of the media, healthy relationships, positive communication, respect, bullying, management of social media and gaming, healthy eating, the benefits of exercise, management of strong emotions and identifying skills, talents, and aspirations. Each session involves discussions and practical activities that have been carefully selected embed the knowledge gained in discussion times and/or build healthy coping mechanisms developing their emotional resilience.

Why are we best placed to deliver?

The Shine Project has been operating as a charity delivering courses in our community for the last 17 years. Each year we use feedback from past students both written and from user-led steering groups to develop our courses, ensuring that they are relevant and up to date in the fast paced world of young people. Our staff have a wealth of experience working with young people in this area, including training in counselling, youth work and children and young peoples mental health. We currently have 20 different schools, charities and youth work organisations on our books and have developed a gold star reputation as a reliable, professional service that is in high demand.

Focus Areas

Delivery plan

Budget breakdown

Beneficiaries

24 people

Who will benefit

Expected impact

For data analysis we use the Warwick Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale (WEMWBS), this tracks the journey of the young person whilst attending Shine/Thrive. We also collect written, and verbal feedback from students, teachers, youth workers, parents and carers and regularly run case studies, steering groups and surveys. We ask our course attendees to complete the WEMWBS survey 3 times during the course. This data is collated at the end into an overall report which is shared with the school or organisation the course has been delivered in. This report shows how the overall groups wellbeing has changed because of our intervention as well as giving more detailed information about each participant. Course deliverers do a weekly write up after each session tracking their observations in sessions plus our continued positive relationships with our p We also set a target to see an increase in 65% of questions in WEMWBS

Track record

The Shine project has been running courses for the last 17 years. Last year we ran 24 courses and demand is high. Many of our partners see The Shine Project as a crucial preventative service for young people that would otherwise receive no intervention until their situation had seriously deteriorated. Our courses have been proven to be effective time and again, evidenced through both repeated demand, statistics and written feedback Our most recent statistics shows Shine's top results being an increase of 27.6% in connecting with others and 23.5% in confidence and 19.7% increase in happiness. Thrive's top statistics show a 41.7% increase in management of problems, 29.2% increase in feeling relaxed and 25% in connecting with others. "I really liked the support that Shine gave me. Thank you everyone for helping me, everyone was so kind and I felt so understood. " "I liked talking and being able to get things off my mind. Thrive helped a lot with my mental health and more."