A three-year early intervention programme from the charith Isle Listen has transformed mental health and wellbeing services for young people across the island.
It has also supported Zurich on the Isle of Man in terms of how it complements its existing mental health and wellbeing programmes.
The best example of this is 12 Zurich employees in the island being trained by Isle Listen to become ‘mental health first aiders’.
With Z Zurich Foundation’s financial support, Isle Listen has been able to reach more than 12,000 children and young people across the island through mental health education and provided one-to-one therapeutic support to more than 900 young people.
The charity says this educational and therapeutic approach is enabling children and young people to effectively manage and deal with the stresses and setbacks they will face throughout life, and helping to avoid the unnecessary escalation of mental health problems to statutory services.
Now the three-year financial collaboration has been completed, Isle Listen has released these headline statistics which show its positive impact.
•One-to-one low level support made available to a total of over 900 students from secondary schools across the island
•A total of 728 children and young people supported through one-to-one support over three years who would have otherwise been referred to statutory services with long waiting times
•Introduction of a primary school mental health and wellbeing educational programme into 29 primary schools, providing 1,002 interactive, educational sessions.
•A total of 4,616 individuals trained in mental health and wellbeing from 474 organisations locally and internationally.
Isle Listen chief executive Andrea Chambers said: ‘We are extremely grateful to the Z Zurich Foundation for their financial support, and for the confidence they placed in us which was essential to make our services possible.
‘Three years ago, when the project began, there was a growing awareness of the importance of positive mental health and wellbeing on the island, but there were lots of challenges regarding providing the kind of support that many young people needed.
‘That’s why our early intervention services are so important and we feel strongly that the data we have gathered clearly shows that it has been an overwhelming success.’
She also praised employees from Zurich on the Isle of Man who have supported the collaboration by publicising issues about mental health and wellbeing.
Zurich has incorporated Isle Listen’s services into its Group Life and Disability service for corporate customers in the Isle of Man, as part of its suite of wellbeing services and a number of staff from Zurich and the Z Zurich Foundation have been inspired to raise funds for Isle Listen by taking on their own fundraising challenges to ensure Isle Listen’s essential support in schools can continue.
This includes:
•James Gowans (Ride London cycling sportive)
•Gary Shaughnessy (Berlin Marathon)
•Martin Malone (Isle of Man six-bay swimming challenge)
•Charlene Cooper (OmniaMind Expedition Limitless arctic challenge, and ice bath challenge)
•Ollie Last (Event organiser of the Zurich Lighthouses cycling sportive which raised funds for Isle Listen)
Nigel Simpson, the head of integrated benefits international at Zurich) became a member of the MCH Psychological Services Board (MCH Psychological Services is the registered charity behind Isle Listen).
Mr Simpson said: ‘Mental wellbeing is a top priority for Zurich both locally and globally – it’s a focus for us as an employer, and as a business which recognises the role we play in the wider community.
‘That’s why we were very keen to do everything we could to support this collaboration. The Isle Listen team have done amazing work over the past three years not only to provide practical support to so many young people, but also to help remove the stigma regarding mental health.
‘These achievements are particularly impressive when you consider the exceptional challenges that were created by the pandemic and lockdowns. Even though this three-year collaboration has now come to a successful conclusion, Zurich on the Isle of Man will continue to look for more opportunities where we can work with Isle Listen towards shared goals.’
Ruth Adamson, Z Zurich Foundation Europe’s Middle East and Africa Regional engagement manager, said: ‘Investing in the mental wellbeing of young people is critical. At the Z Zurich Foundation, we want to enable today’s youth to thrive in an increasingly complex world. This means also supporting their caregivers.
‘It can be very difficult for parents and teachers alone to equip children and young people with the vast array of knowledge, skills and experience they need to cope confidently with everything that modern life can throw at them. That’s why the work of Isle Listen is so important, and why we wanted to help the charity to expand its services.’