With the onset of the pandemic, Snow-Camp’s face-to-face youth work was put on hold but the lockdown was rapidly having a negative impact on our young people. We could not close our doors.
Providing life changing support to young people through a pandemic
Snow-Camp's 2020/21 Annual review
The story of Snow-Camp is one of inspiration, determination and above all a passion for delivering positive outcomes for young people. Snow-Camp has consistently adapted over the past 18 years, developing new programmes, adjusting to meet the needs of young people. 2020/21 has been a key moment in time where that determination needed to continue, to make a difference at a time that meant the world to so many.
The team kept working and we refocused. The mental health programmes we had previously developed became front and centre of our support. We rapidly scaled up, delivering many more workshops and providing support online. Requests for counselling also increased significantly as more young people reached out facing an avalanche of challenges.
Our Impact
We’re incredibly proud of the resilience and leadership our team has shown during this unprecedented time.
For the first time in our history, we made a positive impact entirely remotely, with Snow-Camp becoming a critical support service for hundreds of young people across the UK.
We engaged
0
young people
We delivered
0
sessions
Stop. Breathe. Think.
Transforming mental health for young people
In November 2020, we launched Stop.Breathe.Think in response to the many issues that are impacting young people. In partnership with JHD Counselling Services, young people can access free 1-1 counselling sessions in just 24 hours. The service also offers mindfulness tutorials and 24/7 emergency text support. Watch the video to hear how Stop.Breathe.Think was developed.
Stop.Breathe.Think's Impact
187
parents or professionals asked if they could refer a young person for support
693
young people asked for counselling support
1068
people signed up for our mindfulness tutorials support
1954
young people supported in total
2272
counselling sessions were delivered
November 2020 – June 2021
Our Young People
Young people from across the country have contacted us, but we have seen a higher concentration of young people reaching out from the East Midlands, London and the North West of England.
64% are aged 18 or younger, with the average age at 16.
73% female, 25% male, 2% other
Young people have reached out from
Sheffield Manchester Liverpool Sunderland Luton Exeter Oxford London Newcastle Edinburgh
Most common issues affecting young people
Malikah's story
Malikah finished her Stop.Breathe.Think counselling sessions in February 2021, and kindly shared her feelings and experiences with us, as to how the counselling changed her life. Watch the video to find out more.
Why supporting mental health is vital
We conducted national research with Censuswide, which revealed just how important it is to provide free, accessible mental health support to young people. We found that:
- 4 out of 5 young people are put off seeking mental health support due to wait times, not knowing where to access help or being worried about costs
- The pandemic has made over 60% of the younger generation feel anxious
- 3 out of 5 young people believe lockdown has negatively impacted their mental health
We know that we’re on the right track to making a significant difference to thousands of young lives over the coming years and our efforts are already getting noticed:
In May 2021, we were delighted to win big at the PR Moment Awards and PRCA Dare Awards.
Staff and Young People Training and Development
Alongside developing Stop.Breathe.Think we provided vital mental health training to our programmes team and youth volunteers, who support our Programme Managers on our programmes. This training has enabled our team to work with our young people more effectively as well as supporting their own mental wellbeing.
Our youth volunteers will have the opportunity to work towards a full diploma in counselling, with volunteering and job opportunities available with Stop.Breathe.Think at the end.
- 57 gained a Level 1 - 2 in Counselling Skills course with JHD Counselling Services
- 10 took part in Confronting Conflict and Becoming Youth Facilitators course with Leap Training
- 5 took part in and Online Practitioner course with Leap Training
“When Snow-Camp asked me if I wanted to enrol in a counselling course with them, I decided to go for it and I absolutely loved it! I now want to train to become a fully qualified counsellor. Having access to the opportunities Snow-Camp provide has been amazing. I have learnt so much about myself as well as making loads of new friends from different regions. The sessions have provided me with new skills that I now apply to everyday life, which has massively helped me throughout the pandemic.”
Snow-Camp's Programme Work
During the pandemic Snow-Camp were not able to head to the indoor slopes as usual and run our core programmes for young people. However, that has not stopped us! Making the decision to take all our services online before lockdown, we quickly adapted to the new circumstances and have been able to provide our young people with a fantastic level of support remotely.
We developed a new Covid-19 programme to support vulnerable young people, who were at severe risk of falling through the cracks during this period, remotely. We’re delighted to have delivered 62 virtual sessions and workshops throughout the lockdowns.
- Be Inspired sessions led by our Patrons and Ambassadors who are some of the biggest names in UK snowsports
- Be Empowered mental health workshops delivered by our in-house mental health counsellor, Kevin Hempstead
- Group activities and fitness sessions led by our Programme Managers
- 1-1 counselling sessions with JHD Counselling Services
“At the beginning of the lockdown, I felt lost and confused. It was a really hard time for me, I felt I had no one and I spent most of my time in my room doing nothing but sleeping. Snow-Camp helped me throughout lockdown as we still had our meetings online, it kept a little bit of normality and hope in my life. Even though I had to stay at home, I was able to meet people from all different regions! I wouldn’t be in the positive place I am today without Snow-Camp.”
Award Winning
We are pleased to have won the regional South East Apprenticeship Awards 2020 and were Highly Commended at the National Apprenticeship Awards 2020. This award means that we are one of the top 3 SME apprenticeship employers in the UK! We were also honoured to win the Innovative Use of Sport award at the Not A Red Card Awards for our work supporting young people’s mental health on our snowsports programmes.
Our Events
Charity Golf Day
In September last year, we ran our first charity Golf Day at Bush Hill Park Golf Club. It was also our one and only fundraising event of year. We are incredibly grateful to the teams, sponsors, volunteers and the Club staff for helping us to make it happen! The event raised a wonderful £15,000. Thank you.
Crans-Montana Marathon
It has been two years since we last ran a fundraising event in the mountains, and we’re delighted to let you know that we’ll be running the Crans-Montana Marathon from 3rd to 6th February 2022. With stunning scenery and a history of hosting ski racing events, the Swiss mountain villages are a fantastic location for the event. Get a team together and take on a series of winter sports challenges over two days to raise money for Snow-Camp.
Our Supporters and Partners
We are grateful to all Snow-Camp’s supporters for enabling us to help others throughout this difficult period. Your support during this time really means a lot.
Thank you
Previous
Next
A full list of all our wonderful supporters and partners is available here.
To see our income and expenditure for the year please see our annual accounts which will be circulated following our audit in November 2021
We’re delighted to share two supporter case studies below.
North Face x Ellis Brigham x Snow-Camp
We were delighted to welcome the North Face to our community of supporters this year.
Watch the video to find out more about our partnership.
The Skiers Cumbrian Cycle Challenge
On June 4th 2021, a group of wonderful Snow-Camp supporters came together to tackle a 113-mile cycle challenge round the Lake District, raising an incredible £48,000 to support our work. This is the largest amount that any third-party event has ever raised for us! Huge thank you to the team, which was led by long-term supporter James Palmer-Tomkinson from PT Ski.
Vision for 2021/22
The Government’s roadmap out of lockdown in Spring 2021 was a welcomed announcement which enabled us to plan for our own return to face-to-face youth work and events over the coming months. We are therefore incredibly excited to be able to safely run our snowsports programme First Tracks across the country during the school summer holidays. Watch our brand-new programme journey film to see our work in action!
Stop. Breathe. Think.
Developing Stop.Breathe.Think over the last 6 months has been hugely rewarding. We did not want to close our doors to young people as a result of COVID, and this project has enabled the Snow-Camp team, whilst our other programmes are on hold, to focus their collective energy on creating and rolling out a new service that has been able to play a positive role for young people in these challenging times. As a youth charity, this was incredibly important to us.
However, it is clear that with investment the future growth of Stop.Breathe.Think could be significant, and the fit within existing Snow-Camp structures would be challenging for many reasons. We believe a new option should be considered which enables Snow-Camp and Stop.Breathe.Think to grow side by side, complimenting each other, but not with one as part of the other. Therefore, we are proposing the creation of a new National Youth Charity, with broader physical and mental health goals, under which both Snow-Camp and Stop.Breathe.Think can separately exist and prosper.