Charity steps up for mental health test
AHAGHILL charity has revealed its plans to tackle the growing mental health crisis it has witnessed throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Founded last year to support children in the area, East End Empowering Stars have been delivering a wide range of initiatives to support people.
Speaking to the Glasgow Times, founder Mitchell Gavin said he realised there was a need for a charity to tackle mental health issues when going round the doors in the East End at the beginning of lockdown. He said: “You could go to a door one day and see a child happy but the next week, you could go and see a child looking depressed. We’re out in the community so we’re seeing the impact Covid is having.”
Mitchell and his team are hoping to launch a counselling service for children and young people in the coming weeks after receiving emails from schools and parents asking if they were doing any mental health support.
After seeing the demand for these services, the organisation has reached out to private counselling organisations for children already on the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services waiting list.
Mitchell added: “We’ve got a trustee who is a councillor and she’s been devoting her time to doing calls to teachers, support groups, scavenger hunts and competitions – we’ve just been trying to do as much as we can.”
The charity has also been distributing packs throughout the community – mainly to residents living in Haghill and relies mainly on donations from the community. As well as that, East End Empowering Stars also hosts online first aid and mental health awareness workshops and fitness classes.
Volunteers distributed arts and crafts packs to children across the area over the weekend for a “create your own plate” competition.
Running solely on donations from the general public and the generosity of local businesses, Mitchell has appealed to readers to donate what they can.
He said: “We’re not looking for £10 or £20. Anything will do, even £1, 50p, 10p. Even £2.50 means we can go to a pantry to get a family a week’s shop.”