We’re really excited to share that we’ve been shortlisted for ‘The Children's Achievement Award’ at the 2024 Children and Young People Now Awards! 🏆🎉

The ceremony is happening on 28th November in Hammersmith, London, and we’re on a mission to get Jade and Joel to attend!

But we need a little help from our incredible community to make it happen.

Why Jade Deserves This: 

Our amazing co-founder Jade has ADHD and from the age of 9 struggled at school and with her mental health. Between the ages of 11 and 13 she struggled with but overcame severe anxiety, depression, self-harm and an eating disorder. Through her 'Reach for the Stars' assemblies, she’s been inspiring other young people with her story to build mental health resilience, reach out for help if they need it, keep pushing forward and chase their dreams—just like she did.

Click here to watch a short documentary about Jade's story.

Jade’s assemblies have already caught the eye of ITV News, the BBC, and even the United Na...

Last year, we were incredibly grateful to receive funding from The People's Postcode Trust!

As our funding comes to an end, we wanted to take this opportunity to thank the Trust for its support which has been SO important in the delivery our work to support young people, families, and schools in Devon. Our work was made possible thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery.

Over the last year, we have provided support to thousands of parents via our free, online course ‘The Horizon Plan’, which teaches our clinical process to support young people struggling with mental health. The Horizon Plan is recommended by NHS trusts and NHS Recovery Colleges across the UK, including Devon Partnership NHS Trust, and currently has 1116 parents and carers enrolled.

In Totnes, we have delivered two in-person Parent Support Groups for parents of primary and secondary school-age young people struggling with mental health, through fortnightly, in-person group sessions. These parents joined the p...

Here is a video from The Horizon Plan Module 1, where we teach you how to create a daily routine that supports your child's healing. 🏡💛🫶

We have helped hundreds of parents and carers to better support a young person struggling with mental health through our free course 'The Horizon Plan'.

The Horizon Plan is our FREE online course for parents of children and teenagers struggling with emotions, behaviour and mental health, guiding you to better support your child's recovery.

CLICK HERE to join 'The Horizon Plan' for free and learn how to develop a consistent home routine to support your child's mental health.

Are you partner organisation interested in learning more about YMHF - perhaps referring families and schools for our free-to-access support or maybe to discuss collaborating on a project?

Our Co-Founder Joel wasn't able to attend a meeting this week, so recorded a quick video introducing our story and the work we're doing.

Enjoy  

We wanted to share some of the fantastic feedback Jade has received from her 'Reach For the Stars' assemblies with schools in Devon and Cornwall over the last month! 

Jade has visited over 100 primary and secondary schools and delivered her assembly to over 35,000 students. Here is a short documentary made about Jade and her assemblies, called ‘What’s Your Story’.

Jade has ADHD and faced a huge amount of personal struggle at school, academically, socially and with her own mental health. Between the ages of 9 and 12, Jade fought to overcome severe anxiety and depression which later led to self-harming and an eating disorder. Jade overcame her challenges with the amazing support of her parents, Claire and Joel Sutton, who subsequently founded the Youth Mental Health Foundation. Alongside mental health professionals, Claire, Joel, and Jade created a free online course to guide other parents to better support a young person struggling with mental health (CLICK HERE to check out our fr...

Watch this video to meet the Youth Mental Health Foundation Co-Founders: Claire, Joel, and Jade!

Click here to join our FREE online course to better support a young person struggling with mental health.

Who are we?

The Youth Mental Health Foundation is a Devon-based not-for-profit organisation working with young people, families, and the wider community to address the crisis in youth mental health. We are addressing an urgent need for preventative education to build resilience in children, alongside early intervention strategies to prevent mental health challenges from escalating. We are directly supporting families whose young people are in crisis with their mental health, through in-person and online provision. We work with communities across Devon and have a growing national and international reach. The impact of our work is more resilient young people who are less likely to experience severe mental health challenges, and more families who are empowered and equipped to supp...

If you’re a parent supporting your child through anxiety and want to know what kind of support you could give, this post is for you.

As a teenager, I had generalised anxiety disorder, and my parents' support was one of the biggest forces behind my getting better. I want to share what they did that worked well in the hope that it gives other parents in a similar position some guidance.

I’m not going to lie and say that they got it right every single time. They were, I'm sure, just as blindsighted by the situation as I was. So I also hope that if right now you feel like your support isn’t good enough, it’ll be reassuring to read a story where parents learned how to provide support over time.

I never really liked referring to anxiety as ‘generalised anxiety disorder’ - it sounded too clinical and, honestly, a bit frightening. So, borrowing a trick from an old counsellor, I’m going to refer to it as Kevin. In fact, this is something you could try with your child to make speaking ab...

If you’re a Mum or Dad of a child who’s refusing to go to school and you’re looking for some guidance, look no further. School refusal, or school anxiety, as it’s called, is immensely stressful, challenging, and distressing for both you and your child.

It might mean that you’re frequently faced with your child’s early morning meltdowns, fits of crying, or maybe even vomiting and nausea. Your head is probably overflowing with tricky questions like, ‘Is it easier if I just keep her home from school?’ or ‘What if he’s missing out on important lessons?’.

A child consistently refusing to go to school is more common than you might think. Especially if your child struggles with their mental health, is often very anxious, or finds it hard to be away from you, they may well find school a daunting and difficult thing to cope with.

Perhaps the school is starting to question you about their low attendance; maybe your own work schedule is getting disrupted, and maybe your child is becoming in...

Hi everyone - we've got some exciting news!

We are so grateful to have been chosen by Melissa to take forward this amazing Facebook Group to support parents of young people who self-harm.

We plan to be diving into our members' posts to give support and guidance FAR more often, running weekly live Q&As where you can ask for specific advice for your child and LOADS LOADS more.

Watch this space...and remember that if you're currently in a very dark place, hang in there, lean on the rest of us here and know that things can get better.

Sending love to our community and looking forward to supporting you through this chapter.

If you’re a parent or carer in need of support, you can become part of our community by joining our free Facebook Group 'Self Harm - Parents': https://www.facebook.com/groups/339257352865468/

For more support and practical advice for you as parents while you support your child or teen, CLICK HERE for the Horizon Plan, our free online course. 

The Youth ...

If you’re a parent worried that your child’s fears or phobias are negatively impacting their day-to-day mental wellbeing and you want to do something about it, this article is for you. 

Children often face fears and phobias, which can range from common anxieties such as animals, the dark, and heights to more specific fears like clowns, blood, or being sick. In fact, very few of us make it through childhood without any fears. For example, I used to drag my Mum by the hand across the street as soon as I spotted a big dog coming towards us.

But if these kinds of fears are starting to disrupt your child’s sleep, give them extreme nightmares, or cause them daily and debilitating distress, then they could be seriously impacting their mental health. Any fright that is persistent, intense, and causing your child great unhappiness is, of course, something that you want to help them cope with.

In this article, we’ll talk through some ways that you, as a Mum or Dad, can proactively suppor...