Four youth leaders from Halifax charity win awards in recognition of their community work

Last month, organisations across Calderdale came together to celebrate the fantastic projects and charities in the borough for the Community Foundation for Calderdale Community Spirit Awards.

Mal Goss, 15, Harry Wardman, 16, Kiera Keegan, 16, and Ruby Geddes, 16, have been volunteering as part of the Invictus Wellbeing services Youth Leaders programme for the last two years and received the Young Community Champion award.

All four were nominated separately along with 10 other young people in Calderdale, but it was felt the calibre was so high that all four were awarded a certificate for their achievements.

Each of the youth leaders meet on a regular basis to plan different fundraising strategies for Invictus Wellbeing.

They implemented the '12 Days of Christmas 'elf' wellbeing campaign last year which is running this month. They also attend different networking and awareness events helping with the running of stalls and events and have played an important role with the Active Calderdale campaign, helping young people back into physical activity as a way to improve their mental health.

They also volunteer their time at Invictus’ Try High holiday club, which concentrates on mental health and physical health.

More recently, the youth leaders helped Invictus with a suicide prevention grant application to try and secure funding to help young people and families who may have been impacted by suicide.

Katie Dewhurst, from Invictus, said: “Our youth leaders are proactive and hard working and make the time to help with as many Invictus events as possible as well as having busy school and college lives.

“We are thrilled they have been recognised for their achievements. We are a charity that supports the mental health and wellbeing of young people in Calderdale and their youth voice is paramount to ensuring we are always making the right decisions based on their view points and input.

“Well done to them all and keep up your amazing work!”