One Step Borders has received £5,000 to fund training for volunteers working with young people with emotional and mental health difficulties in the Scottish Borders.
The donation was provided by the Santander Foundation, which offers Discovery Grants to UK registered charities for projects that help disadvantaged people in local communities.
One Step Borders supports people in the Scottish Borders between the ages of 16 and 25 who suffer from poor emotional or mental health. The organisation provides support over the phone, face-to-face and by working with a number of local schools. It also organises away days to promote social inclusion and teach skills such as anxiety management.
The donation will be used to develop and implement training programmes for volunteers, in addition to contributing towards One Step Borders’ new premises in Melrose. The funding will also pay for trips intended to help participants build confidence and teach them to better manage their anxiety.
Alex Kennedy, Director at One Step Borders, said: “We are hugely grateful to Santander for supporting a developing organisation such as ours. We will be able to use this money to develop our volunteer network, which in turn will enable us to support more young people within our community who are struggling with their emotional and mental health.”
Marina Arnot, Branch Manager at the Santander Hawick branch, said: “The Santander Foundation makes hundreds of donations every year to good causes throughout the UK. Our branch is committed to playing a key part in the community and we are delighted to be supporting One Step Borders, and hope the donation makes a real difference to local people.”
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Notes to Editors:
Media Contact
Stephanie Harris at Santander Email: stephanie.harris@santander.co.uk Tel: 020 7756 4221
Alex Kennedy at One Step Borders Email: saintpaulsfc@gmail.com Tel: 07791 800324
About One Step Borders
One Step Borders offers free, confidential services run by experienced professionals who help young people with poor emotional or mental health take the first step on the road to recovery. Self-referring means the participants do not have to see their GP before they can access the service.
For more information please visit: www.onestepborders.info
Santander Foundation
The Santander Foundation is at the heart of the Bank’s community activities, providing grants to small charities and social enterprises working with disadvantaged people to fund skills, knowledge and innovation projects across the UK. Discovery Grants of up to £5,000 are available to support three types of activity:
- Explorer: improving people’s knowledge
- Transformer: supporting skills and experience
- Changemaker: innovative solutions to social challenges
Over the last five years, the Santander Foundation has provided £26 million in funding to 13,914 UK charities through Discovery Grants and Staff Matched Donations. For more information please visit: www.santanderfoundation.org.uk
Santander UK is a financial services provider in the UK that offers a wide range of personal and commercial financial products and services. It has brought real competition to the UK, through its innovative products for retail customers and relationship banking model for UK SMEs. At 30 June 2017, the bank serves around 14 million active customers with c19,500 employees and operates through 826 branches (which includes 61 university branches) and 65 regional Corporate Business Centres. Santander UK is subject to the full supervision of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) in the UK. Santander UK plc customers are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) in the UK.