Hitchin, 16th July, 2024: GRIT; Growing Resilience in Teens today announced its success in securing much needed funds for its continued outreach in the community with a £20,000 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund.
Growing Resilience In Teens (GRIT) are a Hertfordshire charity supporting young people from 11-24 facing mental health difficulties. Using their unique coaching approach called the Four Corners Method which incorporates the use of non-contact boxing, boxing metaphor and coaching concepts, GRIT aims to teach valuable life lessons such as goal setting, problem solving, resilience and confidence.
The charity is rapidly becoming a vital pillar of support for young people; with traditional routes of treatment such as CAMHS and other related services experiencing an overwhelming pressure on demand and vastly long wait times, their role in offering early intervention is paramount for de-escalating debilitating symptoms and behaviours.
GRIT delivers its services in schools, through 1:1 and group coaching session and in an after school 12 week programme at local gym; Elite Gym in Hitchin. Supporting schools such as The Priory, Hitchin Boys and Hitchin Girls School (Hitchin) and Knights Templar, Fearnhill and Highfield (Letchworth). With backgrounds in psychology, teaching, special educational needs, boxing and art, the coaching team at GRIT add these skills to the Four Corners Method approach to deliver coaching that is tailored to the individual.
In 2023, GRIT published its impact report which stated supporting 386 young people over the 2022/2023 period. In 2024 they are projecting a 50% increase to support approximately 580 young people.
Therefore, the landing of this funding from the National Lottery will play a key part in not only ensuring the longevity of its service delivery functions but also increase awareness of its offerings, widening them to additional areas and bring in a new marketing and communications strategy and team member to support these objectives
Of the National Lottery funding and all the new changes and additions to the team, Rebecca Kelly, CEO of GRIT said
"Securing this £20,000 grant from the National Lottery Community Fund is a monumental step forward for GRIT.
This funding will not only ensure the sustainability of our current programmes and services but also allow us to expand our reach, bringing essential mental health support to even more young people in our community. With the ongoing challenges faced by traditional mental health services, our work in providing early intervention and support is more crucial than ever. We're incredibly grateful for this support from the National Lottery and excited to continue our mission of empowering young people to take responsibility for the life they wish to lead."