OUR STORY
“In 2015 I worked in a children's hospital at Christmas time and there were many presents donated, mostly from corporate donors. There were so many presents that there was enough leftover for patients’ birthdays until June of the following year. A year later, I was working in child and adolescent mental health. We had no presents donated. Our patients had one present each, chosen by the therapy team, paid for out of the ward's budget - scrimped and saved from the NHS budget that is meant to cover therapeutic activities, and other expenses. I posted about the inequality on Facebook and before I knew it, my post had gone viral with 1,032 shares and so many supportive comments. It inspired me to start a group the following year and together we have raised over £1,000 to help children who would otherwise be forgotten by the generous public. We don’t know whether this disparity is because people just don’t know that there are children in mental health hospitals, or whether it’s indicative of the stigma that society attaches to mental health issues. Regardless, we’re hoping to raise awareness and address the balance. Although this project started with a simple Facebook post, it has already gone further than I ever could’ve imagined possible and reaching units across the UK which is a dream come true.”
Some children in mental health units have a difficult family situation, and some are detained (“sectioned”) under the Mental Health Act, often many miles away from home due to a shortage of beds for young people with mental health problems. With the huge increase in mental health issues in young people, we’re keen to raise awareness and help young people feel supported.
Listen to our story on The Proper Mental Podcast:
What We've Achieved So Far
In 2016, we raised over £1,000 and sent over 300 gifts to children in 27 Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) units across the UK, from London to Glasgow.
In 2017, over £2,000 was raised, and almost 400 gifts were donated to 33 CAMHS units.
2018 saw over 550 gifts sent to 43 units after we managed to raise over £3,000.
In 2019, we surpassed all previous achievements, and sent 1,500 gifts to 67 CAMHS units across the country. Not only that, but thanks to all our volunteers, we managed to raise over £12,000 over a 12 month period!
Due to this excellent fundraising in 2019, we have been able to plan further ahead. Part of this planning led to us finally being registered with the Charity Commission in England & Wales (with the Registered Charity Number 1190353) for the first time.
In 2020, we sent 1500 individual gifts, as well as decorations and a special gift for each ward, to 78 CAMHS units across the country. Our amazing volunteer elves helped us to raise £15,600 during our Christmas campaign!
In 2021, we sent 1543 individual gifts, as well as 26 additional gifts for young people in particular need, in addition to small sensory toys, decorations, advent calendars and activities to 137 units/wards across the country. We were delighted to raise £11,127 during our Christmas campaign!
In 2022, we sent almost 1500 individual gifts, as well as 46 additional gifts for young people in particular need, in addition to 96 advent calendars, 133 activity kits and 135 ward gifts - plus thousands of small sensory toys and lots of homemade Christmas Cards. We were delighted to raise £17,000 over a 12 month period.
In 2023 we sent almost 1400 individual gifts, as well as 52 additional gifts for young people in particular need. We also sent 107 Wellbeing advent calendars, 134 decoration and activity kits and 134 ward gifts - plus thousands of small sensory toys and lots of homemade paper chains with cracker jokes on them and homemade Christmas cards.
We hope to continue the magnificent work done by our volunteers up to now, and keep putting smiles on the faces of young people in CAMHS units at Christmas time!