Charity fundraising concert for teenagers with mental health issues

News from our partners Shropshire Young Health Champions

A young student is staging an ambitious event in a bid to raise awareness and funds for the vital work being done for teenagers with mental health issues.

Cara Povey, 16, of Morteton Hall School near Oswestry, will be hosting a fundraising concert in aid of “No Panic”, a national charity based in Telford.  The music event will be held at Shrewsbury Baptist Church Central on Saturday 18 April 2015.

Following her training to become a Shropshire Young Health Champion, Cara decided to do her bit to raise awareness of the problems faced by young people with mental health issues.  She said:

“I approached Karen Higgins and Nicky Riley from Shropshire Young Health Champions about the idea to create a Young Health Champion project to raise awareness of mental health, teach my peers ways to cope with anxiety, and fundraise for No Panic, starting by holding a music and drama event in Shrewsbury.

“Mental health services need to be more accessible and relevant for young people.  I have had a severe anxiety disorder since I was 10 years old, and after becoming one of the county’s first Young Health Champions I have been using my own experiences in a positive way designing and delivering training and support for professionals such as the police to have a greater understanding of the impact of mental health illness on individuals.  I have also been involved in initiatives to increase awareness for anxiety disorders in school.

“Music and drama has helped me cope with my anxiety disorder and now I have found ways of helping myself, I want to find ways of helping others.”

Karen Higgins, project manager for Shropshire Young Health Champions, said:

“Cara is a remarkable young lady who has taken full responsibility for this whole project; she has the support of a youth worker, but is using her own skills as well as acquiring new ones.  I hope that many people support her event: I have heard the quality of the music from the young performers and it really is quite outstanding.”

Mark Rees, membership secretary for No Panic, said:

“No Panic provides services to help people recover from neuroses, but it does not currently have a dedicated service for young people.  What that means is that we can talk to young people, but only for a limited period of time.  We get more and more enquiries for help for young people every day.  We can help them in the same way we help adults, but we are limited by not having a dedicated young people’s service.  We rely on donations and grants to run our services, so we are both grateful and enthusiastic for the opportunity Cara has provided us to expand our services to include a dedicated young people’s service.  We are looking forward to the music and drama extravaganza that Cara has organised.”

Karen Calder, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for health, and Chair of Shropshire’s Health and Well-being Board, added:

“Shropshire’s Young Health Champions play a vital role in ensuring their peers have access to services that are tailored to their needs.  There is increasing understanding of the stresses young people face, so I’m absolutely delighted to see that Cara is taking such an initiative to help provide support.  I wish Cara’s fundraising event every success.”

For further details about the event contact Cara on poveyc10@moretonhall.com<mailto:poveyc10@moretonhall.com