The business
Blue Smile is a Cambridgeshire charity, offering expert arts-based therapeutic support to vulnerable children aged 3-13 who have poor mental health or emotional problems, and support to teachers and parents.
The challenge
We know that half of all lifetime mental health problems emerge by the age of 14 and that 1 in 6 children have a probable mental health disorder. Record numbers of children and young people are seeking help from NHS mental health services.
Blue Smile supports 250+ children annually who have poor mental health or emotional problems, with the goal of enabling those children to lead happier lives, develop resilience and achieve their potential. We support children with the greatest need – 57% of the children we support receive Pupil Premium funding (socio-economic disadvantage); 49% are on the SEND Register.
The impact
In 2020/2021, Blue Smile supported 307 children through arts-based therapeutic support including 1:1 therapy, groupwork, and joint parent-child therapy. 94% of parents say their child improved because of Blue Smile; 81% of children with very worrying mental health issues improved; and 88% of teachers say that the mental health of a child in their class improved as a result of Blue Smile therapy.
As a result of being at the Allia Future Business Centre, we have flexible space for working, storage and meetings. This allows us to support our office team and our clinical teams in schools, providing art resources for therapeutic support and supervision space.
“We are delighted to continue to use space at the Allia Future Business Centre. Being located in central Cambridge supports us to deliver work in schools across the city and beyond. Allia are friendly, supportive and responsive, and we hope to continue to work with them for many years.”
.
