Making a difference

WEST LONDON CHILDREN’S CHARITY’S FILM IS SHORTLISTED FOR AWARD

THERE were mighty cheers when the children’s charity’s team behind the ‘Mighty Me’ film heard it had been shortlisted for the national Charity Film Awards.

West London Action for Children (WLAC) has provided free counselling and therapy to low-income families in need for 100 years.

Their team of experienced therapists works intensively with children and families to enable them to make positive changes and help them to find solutions to the challenges they face. These include long-term illness, bereavement, family breakdown, exclusion, isolation, domestic violence and addiction.

The Mighty Me film was made by a group of local volunteers. They want to raise WLAC’s profile and help it to raise funds to continue its valuable work.

One of them, a local film director, and long standing supporter of WLAC, says ‘I felt strongly that a short film could help to demystify and show the power of what WLAC does.”

Another local supporter offered to let the film crew turn her living room into a film set for the day. Some committed children from a variety of local schools helped to make the film.

The ‘Mighty Me’ film showcases one of WLAC’s flagship children’s therapeutic projects called ‘Mighty Me’ which they run in local primary schools.

When it wrote to WLAC with the exciting news that the film had been shortlisted for an award, the Charity Film Awards organisers said, ‘ The response to the awards has been overwhelming, with over 40,000 members of the public voting for their favourite charity film. We are delighted to have brought so much attention to so many outstanding videos and such fantastic causes. To have been shortlisted is a great testament to the enthusiasm of your supporters and the effectiveness of your video.’

“Initiatives like Mighty Me are recognised as powerful forms of ‘early intervention’. Working with young children, before problems reach crisis point, helps to prevent more profound mental health issues in their teens and in later life.”

“The weekly Mighty Me sessions offer children a safe place to talk about their feelings, help them to discover their inner ‘mighty’ qualities and build on their strengths” explains Heather Boxer, WLAC Chief Executive.

“Mighty Me uses role-play, art and discussion to develop a child’s resilience and build self esteem. We help children learn how to react positively to challenging situations and cope better with life’s difficulties.

“The families that we work with tell us how much difference we make. Our Mighty Me programme also enables children to participate more constructively in class and improves their behaviour and attention.’ says the WLAC Therapist, who advised the team making the film.

The Charity Film Awards were created to demonstrate that in a modern world film-making is the most powerful piece of equipment in the charity communication tool box, to show that the common perception of charities’ video content is incorrect and to praise charitable video that can inspire, incite to action, excite and change behaviour.

The shortlisted films chosen by the public vote are now being reviewed by a panel of judges which includes Matthew Taylor, chief executive RSA, Caroline Diehl MBE, founder of the Media Trust and Patrick Russell, senior curator BFI National Archive.

The overall winners announced in March.

The film can be seen at www.charityfilmawards.com/videos/mighty-me will be