Lloyds Banking Group extend charity partnership with Mental Health UK

 

• Mental Health UK and Lloyds Banking Group have extended their partnership until the end of 2021 aiming to raise a further £4 million
• Fundraising will directly support Mental Health UK’s programme ‘Bloom’, which aims to reach 500,000 young people and train 2500 teachers in mental health support
• Lloyds Banking Group colleagues have so far raised over £10 million for Mental Health UK in three years

The partnership aim is to raise £4 million by the end of 2021 to expand ‘Bloom’ which supports the mental health of young people. The funds raised through the extension of the partnership will enable Mental Health UK to reach half a million young people as well as train over 2,500 teachers.

The scheme will help prevent long-term mental health challenges in later years, developing practical resources to provide the skills needed for staying mentally healthy. According to The Mental Health Foundation, 50% of mental health issues start before a person is 15 years old and 75% of mental illnesses start before a person’s 18th birthday.

Secondary school is a crucial space to support young people, and Mental Health UK have created a programme designed for 14-18 year olds, equipping them with resilience tools so that they can manage stresses in their life, both now and in the future.

According to a recent Young Minds survey, 51% of young people said that they didn’t ask for help with their mental health because they didn’t understand what they were going through. Bloom addresses this by raising awareness amongst young people and teachers and starting the conversation early.

The programme will help enable an environment where teachers feel able to open the conversation about mental health with students.

“As a college we are committed to supporting a diverse community of students and enabling them to fulfil our college mission statement - 'be all that you can be'. We want to provide our students with the guidance, support and tools they need to achieve, progress and lead happy and fulfilled lives. This project will provide us with the fundamentals to do just that.”

– Bridgend College, Wales.

“One in four people are affected by mental health issues in the UK every year, which equates to around 16,000 of our colleagues and 6.5 million of our customers.

“Our ambition is to shift mindsets to recognise that we all have mental health, just as we all have physical health, and with the right support we can help our colleagues and customers with mental health conditions to thrive.

“We are proud of our charity partnership with Mental Health UK and we’re delighted to announce that we’re extending our Mental Health UK partnership for another two years to the end of 2021 in order to support young people’s mental health right across the UK.”

– António Horta-Osório, CEO of Lloyds Banking Group.

“Lloyds Banking Group colleagues have shown astonishing passion and energy from the moment our partnership started, and that drive has meant that the last three years have led to huge successes.

“The next two years provide us with a unique opportunity to deliver further change together helping to prepare the next generation for future life with Bloom, our programme that supports young people to better manage their mental health.

“To achieve so much yet still have the desire to do more speaks volumes for the level of commitment everyone at Lloyds Banking Group has demonstrated and we are simply grateful beyond words.”

– Brian Dow, Managing Director of Mental Health UK.

Lloyds Banking Group colleagues have raised over £10 million in three years for Mental Health UK. In 2018, Lloyds Banking Group colleagues voted overwhelmingly to support young people in mental health and colleague fundraising over the next two years will go entirely to ‘Bloom’, with the aim that half a million young people will go through the programme and 2500 teachers will be trained to support them.