Child Action Northwest has received £5,000 to fund a part-time member of staff to work on the charity’s online counselling service aimed at supporting primary and secondary schools in Lancashire. The service will offer counselling sessions for young people aged seven to 15.

The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.

The charity’s Emotional Health & Wellbeing service provides a full range of therapeutic support delivered by a team of dedicated professionals. It offers the opportunity for children and young people to explore their problems, thoughts and feelings in a safe, non-judgmental and supportive environment. Support is offered in a multitude of settings including schools, colleges, children’s centres and the charity’s own therapeutic hubs.

Sue Cotton, CEO at Child Action Northwest said: “The funding we have received from Santander will significantly help a large number of young people from across Lancashire to receive timely mental health support. This will enable them to become more resilient and overcome issues such as anxiety, low self-esteem and bullying, which can have such a negative impact on future development if not addressed early on.”

Katherine Wheatley, Branch Director at Santander’s Blackburn Financial Centre branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations every year to good causes throughout the UK. We are committed to playing a key part in the community and we are delighted to be supporting Child Action Northwest, and hope the donation makes a real difference to local people.”

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Notes to Editors:

Media Contact
Leonora Burtenshaw at Santander 
Emailleonora.burtenshaw@santander.co.uk       Tel: 020 7756 4543

Martin Hartley-Smith at Child Action Northwest
Tel: 07581 308462

About Child Action Northwest

Child Action Northwest (CANW) is extremely proud of its innovative portfolio of services designed to support children and young people, families and communities. The group passionately believes that every individual has the right to achieve their full potential whatever their background or circumstance.

The charity’s real strength is having the ability to look beyond the obvious problem and find the root causes. The situations dealt with are complex with many interconnecting factors. This is why CANW offers a range of services, which have been developed to be complementary and work in harmony with each other to deliver a complete solution to improving the lives of children and young people, families and communities. The services are comprehensive and diverse and based entirely on individual needs. As a result, CANW directly help to strengthen children and young people, families and communities so that they can lead positive, healthy and meaningful lives.

CANW has been in existence for over 125 years since the founding of Blackburn Orphanage in 1886. The Head Office in Wiltshire is no longer used as an orphanage however many of the issues that caused children to be placed there still exist today, and this is why it continues to evolve to meet the needs of children and young people, families and communities.

For more information please visit: www.canw.org.uk

Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:

  • Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
  • Transformer: supporting skills and experience
  • Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges

Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £26 million in funding to 13,914 UK charities through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk

Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 31 March 2018, the bank has c19,500 employees. It serves around 14 million active customers, via a nationwide branch network, telephone, mobile and online banking; and 64 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.