Winter Appeal
We are launching our Winter appeal this November to run until February 2025. We are hoping to raise donations so we can reach more young people.
Each year, we support over 20,000 young people who are able to access our mental health services for free, a large part of this comes from our generous donors.
Through our services, we offer empowering and holistic support. This includes one-to-one and group work, outreach in educational settings and a range of community-based interventions as well as creative workshops, drop ins and hubs.
We believe that creativity can strengthen: Voice, Community and Identity ,We believe the Arts can spark: Healing, Vulnerability and Reflection.
Young people present to us with a range of symptoms, from anxiety and depression to self-harm and feelings of suicidality. We don’t believe they are ‘broken’ and need fixing; it is often their environments and a lack of support that create these challenges.
We believe all young people should be able to access each of these experiences for free. Creative workshops and groups such as Art Works comprises of three open call projects OTR Writes, OTR Sounds and Book Club. Services like these are integral to the lives of young people that outside of OTR may not have access to such mediums.
Creative workshops can provide young people with outlets for self-expression and creative pursuits offer a diverse number of stress-reduction benefits. They enable us to reframe perspectives, regulate emotions, and engage in calming practices that ground us in the present moment.
These are really difficult times for many of us with a challenging societal and political climate, an increasingly complex and hostile context, including global conflict, and a cost of living crisis that intersects with devastating consequences for our young people and art.
Additionally, many face extra challenges during the winter months due to the shut down and reduction of services, pressures and stressors around family and the weight of darker and colder weather on wellbeing and mental health.
- We know that in January each year, we receive 10 times as many referrals than any given month.
- In winter, young people referred to OTR wait a staggering 96 days to see a counsellor.
Our services are funded and supported by generous donations from our community, but it is crucial that we reduce waiting times, and reach more young people.
A donation of £50 could pay for a creative workshop on understanding and managing stress.
Support our winter appeal and help us reach more young people.
How you can support our 2024 Winter Appeal
