Charity secures £115k grant to secure future (From Harwich and Manningtree Standard)

Dovercourt's Teen Talk secures £115k grant to secure future

12:00pm Monday 28th January 2013 in News By Helen Barnett

A YOUTH charity is relieved to have secured £115,000 grant to stay open and help an increasing number of youngsters suffering mental health issues.

Dovercourt-based Teen Talk has been given the cash to be spent over three years. The charity said it comes at a difficult time, with fears that a major benefactor could pull its funding.

Manager Hayley Lovett said the charity is seeing more young people suffering mental health issues, family problems and bullying in the face of the recession and mounting pressures to perform academically.

The cash was donated by the Henry Smith Charity fund which is managed by the Essex Community Foundation. It makes up just over a quarter of Teen Talk’s annual budget of £140,000.

Fears were raised by that the Primary Care Trust, which has provided a quarter of the charity’s budget for the last 12 years, could pull its funding next year in the face of budget cuts.