YMCA Downslink Group’s e-wellbeing site has gained recognition from the Children & Young People Now Awards 2020, after being a shortlisted as a finalist in the Mental Health & Wellbeing category.
The website was launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer an innovative approach to providing mental health support direct to children and young people.
Created by YMCA Downslink and funded by Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, it provides self-help information, handy toolkits, a directory of local services and COVID-19 advice.
Unlike other websites, e-wellbeing poses a series of questions to guide users to the appropriate content, and supports them to make the decision about whether they may need help from a professional service.
The platform has gone from strength to strength since its launch in June 2020, including a new youth-led podcast; campaigns to promote mental health and wellbeing; and opportunities for young people to cocreate content, take social action and explore their own mental health needs.
Becca Randell, KSS AHSN’s Implementation Lead – Starting Well (Children’s Mental Health), supported the development of the site and congratulated the team on its success.
“This is a fantastic website that delivers a new approach to supporting children and young peoples’ mental health, and I’m delighted that it has been named as a finalist in these awards,” she said.
“It was great to be able to work with YMCA Downslink on this project and I’m sure that e-wellbeing will continue to go from strength to strength.”
The awards will be announced in March 2021. To find out more about e-wellbeing and to see the site in action, go to: www.e-wellbeing.co.uk.
The site recently featured in KSS AHSN’s Innovate magazine as part of a feature on how COVID has affected the health and care landscape – read the article here.
