Supporting Children and Young People Services across Mersey Care

Charity funding has enabled us to introduce projects and appeals to benefit many local children

Today, on International Youth Day, we're celebrating the energy, creativity, and resilience of young people—and reflect on the ways we, as a charity can stand beside them, through supporting our Children and Young People services,

The awareness day is a United Nations initiative which was established in 1999. It calls on communities across the world to support their young people and ensure the engagement and participation of our future generations so they're empowered to lead, innovate, and thrive. 

“Every society should stand up in support of young people and listen to what they have to say. By giving young people the resources to shape their dreams, we create a better future for everyone.”

We believe that small acts of care can change the course of a young person’s journey – and over the past few years, we’ve worked hand-in-hand with our Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and Children in Care teams to make sure the children and young people across our Mersey Care footprint know they are valued and supported.

Educational resources, comfort items and special gifts

Sometimes, that support has come in the form of educational resources to help make sense of big emotions, or books to empower them around puberty and growing up. We've also funded worry bears that children can hold close and can help them share challenging feelings with their parents or carers.

Sometimes, it’s something even more practical—like our Give a Gift to a Child in Care Appeal. Many children arrive at our services with nothing, their few belongings tied up in a black bin liner. Thanks to the generosity of our supporters, we can give them dignity and comfort with essentials like toothbrushes, toiletries, and pyjamas, along with cosy dressing gowns or slippers to help them feel safe.

The appeal also helps us to mark milestones, with birthday gifts for special ages and starter items like kettles or toasters for young people taking their first steps into independent living. You can support our appeal with a donation to enable us to help more children accessing our services.

At Christmas, our Mersey Care Secret Santa appeal brings the magic of the season to children accessing our services, with more than 500 gifts donated last year alone. Inspired by its success, we launched our Easter Egg Appeal which delivered more than 500 chocolate eggs to our services — a small gesture to show children they are cared for and thought about.

A Gallery of children's artwork at Knowsley CAMHS

Most recently, we’ve worked with Knowsley CAMHS to create permanent displays of artwork from our young people in art therapy sessions. These displays do more than brighten our spaces—they give each young artist the chance to see their creativity celebrated and their voice heard.

Sarah Quinn, an Art and Trauma Therapist at Mersey Care, said:

"The charity funds have enabled children’s artwork to be displayed in the corridors using picture frames that are hung professionally by Estates.  The artwork not only helps to improve how the space looks, those children taking part feel an immense sense of pride that their artwork can be seen.  This helps to improve their confidence and self-esteem."

Fundraising to support the children they care for

A special mention must go to the members of our CYP teams who have gone above and beyond to support their services through incredible fundraising challenges—raising both money and awareness for those they care for. From the Liverpool Santa Dash,  to the Yorkshire Three Peaks Challenge and the Liverpool Half Marathon, their passion and dedication to improving the lives of the children they care for is outstanding and truly inspiring. They have also played a vital role in driving our Secret Santa and Easter Egg appeals, helping to maximise donations and ensure gifts reach those who need them most.

We can't wait to see where our partnership takes us next!