£50,000 pilot will support smaller organisations to deliver creative, community-based mental health support for children and young people.
The fund, supported by the Children and Young People’s (CYP) Mental Health Network and delivered in partnership with NHS Somerset Integrated Care Board (ICB), was created to test a more accessible and proportionate approach to funding smaller voluntary, community, faith and social enterprise (VCFSE) organisations.
Insight from the report Support for Children and Young People to Understand Their Feelings and Mental Health highlighted the importance of early intervention and trusted community support. At the same time, discussions within the VCFSE network revealed that many smaller organisations struggle to access NHS funding due to complex commissioning processes.
Our partnerships manager and CYP Network lead, Liz Loud recently reflected on this journey in her blog: How listening turned insight into impact – creating simpler, fairer funding opportunities for smaller charities in Somerset.
In response, the Innovation Fund was designed to provide smaller organisations with an opportunity to pilot new ideas that support children and young people’s emotional wellbeing.
Applications were assessed by a multi-agency panel including NHS, voluntary sector and system partners, using a proportionate scoring framework designed to recognise the scale and capacity of smaller organisations. Young people were also involved through a dedicated panel, providing feedback on the selected projects to help shape how they are delivered.
The response from the sector was strong, with 26 applications received from organisations across Somerset and a total of eight awarded funding. These were:
- Creative Minds Taunton
- Home-Start West Somerset
- In Charley’s Memory
- Make the Sunshine
- NeuroConnect
- Somerset Youth Theatre
- The Balsam Centre
- The Space
Projects will begin in April 2026, providing a range of creative, community-based support for children, young people, and families across Somerset.
Speaking about the pilot, Rose Firth, Head of Localities and Commissioning for Children’s Health at NHS Somerset ICB, said: “Smaller community organisations often have deep relationships within the communities they serve. Through this pilot we wanted to test how the NHS can work more effectively alongside those organisations to support children and young people earlier, before difficulties escalate.
“The response has been incredibly encouraging and shows the strength and creativity of Somerset’s voluntary sector.”
“The response has been incredibly encouraging and shows the strength and creativity of Somerset’s voluntary sector.”
Rose Firth, NHS Somerset ICB
Feedback from the successful applicants illustrates the pilot’s impact.
“This grant will enable us to pilot an innovative community drop-in service at our new high street location and provide essential free counselling for those on the lowest incomes in our community and across the county,” says Jamie Scanlon, Chief Operating Officer of In Charley’s Memory.
“Make the Sunshine are delighted to have been commissioned through the Innovation Fund to offer bi-weekly dance sessions for young people with SEND,” says their director Louise Lappin-Cook. “We’ve had so many amazing responses to our trial sessions and workshops during our pilot and are really excited to work with families to expand this vital provision locally. We were especially pleased that decision making for this fund has been made by young people themselves.”
“We feel very privileged to have been chosen to deliver a project we are really passionate about via the funding; allowing families to access support where currently there are barriers and we are looking forward to piloting approaches which can be evaluated within the fund,” explains Catherine Eveness, Founding Director of NeuroConnect. “We look forward to working alongside our VCSFE colleagues to address gaps and enhance the collaborations already in place.”
Learning from this pilot will help inform how the system commissions community-based mental health support in the future.
“We’ve had so many amazing responses to our trial sessions and workshops during our pilot and are really excited to work with families to expand this vital provision locally. We were especially pleased that decision making for this fund has been made by young people themselves.”
Louise Lappin-Cook, Make the Sunshine
To find out more about the Children and Young People’s Mental Health Network and become a member, please click here.
For information about how our team can support your charity or community group to find and apply for funding, visit our our Get support page.
