£10,000 funding boosts helps Wrexham mental health charity hire four new staff

A Wrexham-based mental health and wellbeing charity has been able to offer valuable support to the wellbeing of parents throughout the Covid-19 emergency thanks to funding from The Steve Morgan Foundation.

Advance Brighter Futures (ABF) has been helping people in the Wrexham area for over 25 years to build happier and more fulfilling lives through improving their mental wellbeing.

In 2014 ABF set up its PRAMS (Parental Resilience And Mutual Support) project, which is available to mothers and fathers who would like some additional support through the challenges of early parenthood.

At the start of lockdown the charity was awarded £10,000 by the Steve Morgan Foundation, allowing ABF to recruit four new members of our team, including two qualified counsellors to provide its PRAMS Talking Therapies service online and over the phone and two mental health lifestyle coaches.

Lorrisa Roberts, ABF chief officer, said: “Since April the fund has enabled us to support 29 people through a telephone check-ins and online one-to-one sessions.

“Without the quick financial intervention from The Steve Morgan Foundation we would not have been able to rapidly respond to the current pandemic.

“With their support we have been able to adapt our services to ensure those that need support with their mental health and wellbeing in Wrexham continue to receive the quality service that they know and expect from Advance Brighter Futures.”

One of the counsellors ABF was able to recruit – Libby Gaskell – already had strong the links to the charity, dating back to 2013 when she came to the charity through a student internship.

Libby said: “Supporting ABF is, and always has been, such an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

“I recently jumped at the opportunity to become involved again with ABF, working on the PRAMS project offering therapeutic support to parents, and it’s like I have never been away.

“The counselling sessions support new parents, and parents to be, to manage their low mood and/or anxiety.

“More than ever during the pandemic this support has been very important, and therapeutic work has been done remotely online, meaning parents can access support from their homes safely. Not even a global pandemic can keep us at ABF from trying to help the people we support.”

The Steve Morgan Foundation has supported the charity over many years and currently funds ABF’s administrator post, which is a vital role within the charity.

Lorrisa added: “It’s difficult to put into words just how much the support has meant to us over the years.

” Knowing that someone strongly believes in the work you are doing, and was prepared to back us during the pandemic – when we needed it more than ever – has lifted us massively. We see The Steve Morgan Foundation as more than just a funder, they are part of the ABF family.”

If you think you could benefit from the PRAMS (Parental Resilience And Mutual Support) service, please either email us via [email protected] or call us on 01978 364777.