Lottery funding for Halifax climbing charity just the ticket for teenage mental health support

A climbing wall at Rokt, Brighouse.A climbing wall at Rokt, Brighouse.
A climbing wall at Rokt, Brighouse.
A Brighouse climbing and urban adventure charity has secured National Lottery funding to run a pilot project to help teenagers struggling with their mental health through the sport.

The innovative climbing scheme will be run by Brighouse-based ROKT Foundation in partnership with Invictus Wellbeing Foundation over the course of 12 months.

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Thanks to The National Lottery Community Fund grant of £9,940 it means the charity can support around 100 young people during the year-long project.

The two partners have co-designed the programme to offer young people opportunities to try climbing activities that challenge, stimulate, and improve their mental health.

Katie Kinsella, ROKT Foundation’s Director for Community & Business Engagement said: “This is superb news and has the potential to be life-changing for these young people thanks to this Lottery funding and our partners at Invictus Wellbeing Foundation.

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“Designed to explore ‘positive fear’, it focuses on encouraging peer support and will provide the opportunity for future development in climbing, so it won’t stop when the course does. We want to use this opportunity to pilot more holistic approaches to mental health and create a step change in how we work with partner and statutory agencies. ROKT Foundation’s mission is to engage, inspire and empower our participants and this project will do just that.”

The bespoke development programme of climbing activities includes several taster sessions featuring bouldering and rope climbing along with a six-week National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS) level 1 programme, providing a platform for individuals to gain further qualifications in a sport which will debut in the Olympics later this year.

Danny Hutchinson of Invictus Wellbeing Foundation added: “This project provides an incredible opportunity to really affect positive change in the young people’s lives that have been referred to our Foundation through positive activity such as climbing. It’s not something they would normally have access to or think of, but the benefits of climbing physically and mentally are clear and we can’t wait to get on the walls and started.”

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The activities will start in July continuing throughout holiday periods for up to 12 months ensuring young people are supported and have a focus during this time and can develop relationships as well as their climbing ability.

Following the course, participants will be rewarded with further team building activities including escape rooms at Project Breakout, working in teams to problem solve puzzles in a fun environment.

For more see www.roktfoundation.co.uk

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