VALOUR FOUNDATION GRANT AWARD TO HELP SOS REACH MORE PEOPLE IN NEED

SOS Silence of Suicide are thrilled to announce that the Valour Foundation is providing a generous grant of £1.5 Million annually for 5 years to support vital work in improving the lives of individuals and families affected by mental health challenges including suicide ideation.

The mission of the Valour Foundation (which is a private US foundation) is to reduce human suffering and to enhance human potential through supporting programmes that focus on the prevention of mental illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases and on the treatment and care of people with these conditions, with special emphasis on suicide prevention, traumatic loss and care facilities. It strives to decrease stigma by strengthening the concept that mental illness be viewed in the same way as any other than medical illness.

SOS Silence of Suicide’s CEO, Yvette Greenway-Mansfield, said of the grant: ‘’This funding will enable us to expand our services, reaching more people in desperate need. With the Valour Foundation’s support, we will be able to provide critical resources including counselling and therapy, support groups, educational workshops, and volunteer training programmes. We will also be able to open our first series of community hubs, which will be places of safety and comfort for anyone who is vulnerable.’’

“These initiatives will help to break down the stigma surrounding mental health and ensure that those struggling with mental illness receive the care and support they need in their own communities to live fulfilling lives. At SOS, we are committed to improving mental health outcomes for individuals and communities and are incredibly grateful for the support of the Valour Foundation and its commitment to our mission.”

Peter Goddard, a director of the Valour Foundation, commented: ‘’The directors of the Valour Foundation are delighted to announce our support of SOS Silence of Suicide. Suicide is one of the leading causes of death globally, and incidences of suicidal ideation and self-harm are on the rise across our communities. In the UK, as many as 1 in 5 have suicidal thoughts in their lifetime. When we were introduced to the team at SOS Silence of Suicide, we were very impressed with all that they have achieved as a small charity since their formation in 2017, but were also keen to help them achieve their ambitious plans for 2023 and beyond. This includes the opening of the very first SOS Hub in Kenilworth this Spring.’’

For more information on SOS Silence of Suicide, please visit www.sossilenceofsuicide.org or email contact@sossilenceofsuicide.org . If you need to talk to someone, whether you are in crisis or not, please call our team on freephone 0808 115 1505 8pm until midnight Monday to Friday and 4pm until midnight on Saturdays and Sundays.

Next Plc, well known and highly successful High Street and online clothing and home goods retailer, have supported SOS for quite a few years now. This started with SOS hosting mental health sessions at their various branches.

Their support has ranged from cash donations, to highlighting our work on their intranets, donating gifts for raffles and events and so much more.

We thank the whole Next team for their continued kindness, generosity, support and friendship

Heart of England Foundation have supported SOS since the very early days. It’s not just been about providing funding for projects or towards core costs, but the time they are prepared to spend with you, listening to your problems and doing their best to help you find resolutions.

There have been many times that HOE have stepped in and saved the day, and we are indebted to the whole team at HOE, many times over, thank you.

The Kenilworth Rotary Club kindly and generously started to donate and help SOS with funding in early 2022.

As part of SOS’s plans to engage heavily with our more local communities, The Rotary Club’s knowledge of the area, the people, and their requirements for support services are something we can use to help plan the right services in our first ever SOS hub, which opens in Kenilworth in 2023.

It has been a pleasure working with such passionate people and we look forward to a sustained and mutually beneficial relationship with them for many years to come.. Thank you Rotary

The National Lottery have kindly supported us for core costs over the last 3 years now.

Given the thousands of applications they receive, we would like to thank them for always processing ahead of time.

Whilst it is very frustrating that to date, we were never able to secure funding above 10k, there is no doubt that without their kind support, things would have been incredibly tough for SOS. Thank you National Lottery

We’d like to thank members Keele University’s Law Society who raised over their £1500.00 target by successfully completing the Welsh 3 Peak Challenge in 1 day!

Those who took part in this gruelling challenge filmed some of their journey and we thought it worthy of sharing with you all. We think you’ll agree, they did themselves proud!

Thank you Keele Law Society on behalf of everyone at SOS for your suicide awareness and mental health awareness initiative.

Anna Mansfield was just 44 when she died by suicide on 1 May 2015, leaving behind a devastated, loving family including her husband and 2 young children.

The loss of Michael’s daughter Anna, alongside the loss by suicide of Yvette’s friend 5 months previously, are the reasons SOS was founded.

Anyone bereaved by suicide fully understands the devastation losing a loved one to suicide brings.

SOS has always had one core aim – to help grow conversation and compassion by reducing shame, stigma and silence around suicide.

To honour the memory of Anna and all those who’ve passed by suicide and to speak out against stigma, on 1 May 2021, the 6th anniversary of Anna’s passing, 5 people went ‘Skydiving against Stigma’ for SOS at Hinton Airfield in Brackley, Oxfordshire. They collectively raised well over £6,000 which is staggering and we’d like to thank everyone for their participation and support.

3 of our support line volunteers alongside TV psychologist Emma Kenny and her husband Peter, bravely skydived for us and we send our deepest gratitude to them all.

Our thanks to our partner Travel Radio for encouraging Emma to dive for us!

Thanks to Hinton Airfield who supplied some of the content and to Dave & Vicky Nash for editing.

On 1st March 2022, he successfully raised £1,156 with 51 supporters in 14 days.

He was raising money for a charitable cause that was very close to most of our hearts and required funding and more awareness. He asked for donations and help to reach his target in aid of SOS Silence Of Suicide. He had been first diagnosed with depression back in 2007, and it had been one of the hardest things to contend with and receive support for, sadly for many others to that day.

He was doing the event with almost no prior training that year, cycling 215km on 13th March to support mental health. Anything anyone could contribute to helping achieve that target had been massively appreciated and had gone a long way. Even just a repost.