The Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland has given out almost £113,000 in grants to 12 charities working hard to improve the mental health of people in Northern Ireland.
The Foundation’s ‘Our Community in Mind’ mental health initiative received 177 applications from charities and whittled it down to 12 organisations working in key areas such as suicide and self-harm, binge eating, young people’s issues, prisoners and post-natal and ante natal depression.
As well as giving £112,847 in grants to ‘Our Community in Mind’, the Foundation today also announced that it was donating more than £265,000 to 73 charities, which means that it has allocated a total of £530,000 in community grants to 135 charities since the start of this year.
Brenda McMullan, Executive Director of the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland, said the Our Community in Mind initiative was a response to the demand for better mental health services in Northern Ireland.
She said; “Mental health charities in Northern Ireland do a fantastic job supporting our severely stretched Health Service. Over the years, the number of organisations in this area applying to us for funding has increased dramatically so we decided to launch our ‘Community in Mind’ initiative.
“The Foundation has been overwhelmed by the number of applications and by the high quality of applications for funding. In the end, we had to choose 12 very high quality applicants doing fantastic work tackling the scourge of mental health problems in the community.”
O’Reilly Stewart Director Imelda McMillan, Chair of the Halifax Foundation added; “O’Reilly Stewart Solicitors is delighted to support the Halifax Foundation in such a worthwhile capacity and we look forward to seeing how the recipient charities use this extra resource in their pursuit to improve the lives of those living with mental health across Northern Ireland.”