This post is over 2 years old. Any advice and funding information may not be up to date. Head home to see our most recent posts.

This #WorldMentalHealthDay (10^th October), we’re proud to shine a light on groups using small amounts of National Lottery money to make a big difference to the mental health and wellbeing of those in their local community.

In the last three years, we’ve awarded £49m to 550 projects across Northern Ireland that support good mental health. 440 of these were small grants between £300- £10,000. Let’s have a look at what our grant holders have been doing: 

Ballymacash Neighbourhood Community Craft Group 

Our Communications Team recently had the pleasure of going out to visit a small community group in the heart of Lisburn on a (rare) sunny September afternoon, who were awarded £4,000 to create an allotment for members to produce vegetables for people in the community.  

The ladies were busy recreating iconic Northern Ireland landmarks, the Harland and Wolf cranes, into flowerpot stands when we popped in to find out about how the group has helped members with their mental health.

Rebecca McGuigan looks forward to meeting up every week and enjoys the seasonal crafts they do:  

“I have four children and I have a spinal injury so I’m not able to do much work at the minute. I was stuck in the house day in and day out when I heard about the group and now, I’ve been coming for a year. Having something like this really helps my mental health -it gets me out of the house.” 

Elaine Stinton, Treasurer of the group explains the impact this National Lottery grant has had: 

“It has been totally amazing for the ladies to actually produce all the food, the vegetables, the flowers- everything! The produce then went out to the older people in the community. It’s amazing to see the improvement of our members mental health and wellbeing- they came to us in nerves and now they’re great. We can’t thank the National Lottery enough.”

Mid Ulster Gaming Club 

Mid Ulster Gaming Club is another of our small grant holders who have been busy supporting local people through table top and role play games – something which has taken off during the pandemic. They received £480 to cover some core costs to continue to support their members, many of whom are socially isolated, have Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and have poor mental health.

Simon McLarnon, Club Secretary, explained to us how social interaction can be difficult for people with ASD. Joining the club is some members only opportunity to have face to face social interactions.

“The gaming community attracts people for whom social interaction is difficult.  The routine, the complexity of the games and their immersive experience appeals to people who have ASD. The escape from reality can bring relief to those struggling with their mental health.  

“A lot of us have found friends in the club and will talk about our personal issues, seeking help and advice and support for mental health issues.”

Hearing from Simon really does show how a small amount of funding can have such a positive effect on people and communities. 

“We are very grateful for the National Lottery’s continued support which has helped our club grow-so much so we may have to open more regularly to accommodate our expanding membership!” 

Pure Mental NI

Belfast based, Pure Mental NI, used a £7,350 grant to fund a secure space to bring young people together to work towards improving mental health education, awareness and services in Northern Ireland’s schools.   

Jay Buntin, Co-Chief Executive Officer at Pure Mental NI explained what the group achieved with the award: 

“Thanks to National Lottery funding, we’ve been able to level up the organisation and work with more young people to co-design programmes and projects which will directly improve their mental health and wellbeing.”  

Dromara and District Community Art Group  

A grant of £1,300 helped Dromara and District Community Art Group reduce isolation and improve the mental health of people in their local community. 

When we asked the group members what the art classes meant to them, we were taken aback by the response. It was clear that this little group was incredibly valued and has had a hugely positive impact on the members. Have a read of some of the comments below. 

Feeling inspired? 

All these amazing groups received funding through our Awards for All programme which provides grants from £300-£10,000 and is available to projects bringing local people together to make positive changes in their community. 

We encourage groups to contact us to chat about their project ideas.

Visit our website: http://www.tnlcommunityfund.org.uk/northern-ireland to find out more.

Give us a call on 028 9055 1455 to have an informal chat about your ideas.