Transitions UK awarded emergency grant

Transitions UK was born of a real frustration that the needs of young people were not being properly addressed, let alone met. The charity supports vulnerable young people with learning disabilities, those at risk of offending or criminal exploitation and those leaving care.
Transitions UK want to achieve lifelong changes and benefits for the young people which they do primarily by bringing people together within a mentoring and befriending framework that supports development and skills acquisition, whilst fulfilling potential.

Transitions UK run an Attain Project for vulnerable care leavers in Milton Keynes. This project has been running for over a year and supports 27 young people currently.
Coronavirus lockdown meant the increase in loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression for these care leavers. It also saw the real need for the supply of essential items like food and social support.

The grant awarded by MK Community Foundation has partially covered the costs of service provision including staff time, training and volunteer expenses. It has meant that the charity have been able to adapt their services by switching to digital and virtual support over the past few months, and will help them to transition those in their care back to normalcy when social restrictions are relaxed.

Case Study - Jayne's Story
Jayne’s childhood trauma meant that by her early twenties she had a diagnosis of PTSD, a personality disorder, depression and anxiety.
When she was introduced to Transitions UK, she was drinking excessively and coping with her mental health through self-harm - not surprisingly her engagement in the early days with Transitions UK wasn’t very positive. The Transitions UK service, however, differs from others. Their long term support programme runs for 18 – 24 months, meaning that they are able to dedicate more time to building trust and rapport. And the results can often be nothing short of life-changing.

In time, Jayne realised that offers of help and support were genuine and Transitions UK saw a shift in her attitude, which opened up other avenues - EMDR light therapy for her PTSD with a private psychotherapist - for her treatment. This led to volunteer work experience, where Jayne drew on her own experience and was offered a permanent role...

“Transitions UK has helped me with a lot of things, they’ve supported me with my mental health by getting me in with a private therapist, they also helped me in a time of need by coming over for a chat and providing a friendship, I’ve had the pleasure of having two mentors that are helping in other aspects of my life.

It’s helped with getting out of the house, making action plans to sort out my health and I’ve managed to significantly reduce my alcohol use. I aim to stop it, so I can one day be a drug and alcohol counsellor.

I’m soon to start volunteering to get some work experience and a reference so it can help with my future career. I never felt that I had a future but now I believe I do.”