Friends Action North East targets social inclusivity with Foundation funding

In the Summer of 2022, Friends Action NE was facing a funding crisis. The charity was in its 18th year helping those with learning disabilities to access opportunities for social interaction. However, a lack of funding support and the need to increase capacity was putting a strain on the financial capabilities of the charity.  Enter the Greggs Foundation.

In 2022, the Greggs Foundation awarded Friends Action a grant of £50,000 over three years through the North East Core Fund.  This programme directly helps organisations requiring core funding to improve the lives of people within their local community. The grant acted as vital financial support which will be put to use keeping social groups running and drive forward further support for the growing number of young adults and teenager who are accessing their services.

Sally Evans, Project Manager at Friends Action NE comments:

“We really can’t thank the Greggs Foundation enough for the grant funding they have awarded Friends Action North East. There are, sadly, very few funders supporting charities through core funding. For an organisation such as ours, without that core funding in place, we would find it very difficult to maintain our services or reach the kind of individuals within the local community who would benefit from what Friends Action has to offer. 

“Luckily for us, the Greggs Foundation really understood the impact we have on helping to enrich the lives of people through social opportunities to engage with the wider world.  The grant funding we have received will not only help us be able to maintain the training and socials groups we have active right now, but also look at ways to expand in the future.”

Friends Action North East was initially set up in 2004 to support people with a learning disability, autistic spectrum disorder and mental health problems to reduce social isolation.  The team developed a wide-ranging programme to help individuals gain the skills, knowledge and experience needed to build and maintain meaningful and lasting friendships. 

The team run a very individualised programme. It is specifically designed to not only improve opportunities for social interaction through managed events and groups, but also develop the skills needed to make the most of those opportunities. 

Sally Evans continues: “When Friends Action was initially set up, it was done very much with a view to supporting adults in our communities who struggled with social inclusion. There are a range of barriers that can limit the individuals referred to Friends Action from social integration but understanding how to develop meaningful and positive friendships is key to tackling isolation. 

“To address this, we really take a phased view based on the individual and their needs. Often that begins with identifying what a person’s barrier to friendships are. We offer one to one mentoring support for those in greater need as this is a little more intensive than some of our other support programmes.  Our mentoring programme has been very successful and we work with volunteer students from the school of psychology and sociology at Newcastle and Northumbria University to deliver this. The one to one mentoring involves everything from travel training to learning how to access locations or places that meet their needs.  This can be particularly important for people with spectrum-based disorders who need a quiet, safe place in very busy locations when they are at risk of being overwhelmed.”

The mentoring programme is all about skills.  Helping raise confidence and improve an individual’s ability to move around successfully in their local community.    

This leads into another area of the work of Friends Action North East – developing meaningful and healthy friendships.  Upon receiving a number of referrals from Northumbria Police, Friends Action decided to support individuals who may be more vulnerable to unhealthy relationships with greater social awareness around what makes positive friendships.  With unhealthy friendships often meaning people can be taken advantage of, the team at Friends Action now run friendship training to help individuals understand what is a friend, conversational topics and how to be technology smart around unhealthy online connections. 

The Friends Action North East team are committed to ensuring the continuation of their services.  Following the Covid pandemic, the number of referrals for young people and teens experiencing mental health issues as a result of repeated lockdowns has increased and their focus has shifted to address this. 

Sally Evans continues:

“We have a real need to adapt and be flexible as more younger people are referred into our services to help deal with social issues arising from Covid lockdowns.

“A core part of our programme is our social events programme.  Run by volunteers, our social events include everything from art in the park to walking groups, yoga, dance and friendly meet-ups in social locations.  We currently have over 340 people a year accessing our training and groups.  Post-pandemic we are delighted to be back to facilitating the in-person social interactions which mean so much to the people we support. 

“One of our key aims is to help people develop and maintain independent friendships so that social inclusion becomes a natural part of their everyday life.  The funding from the Greggs Foundation will go a long way to supporting our community of individuals to lead a more fulfilling and socially enriched life and we look forward to reporting back on the impact the funding has had on our community.”