On 6th July 2019 I will be donating 15 inches of my hair to the Little Princess Trust who make wigs for young people with hair loss. I will also be taking donations for Emma's Embrace, a charity set up in memory of my friend Emma Kirk who sadly passed away in October 2018.

Emma Kirk was a young woman with huge potential and spent her life trying to fight injustice and help others. On the 27th October 2018, Emma sadly passed away. Eight months before she died, Emma had a breakdown and as she began her recovery, she realised that there was little or no support for people in her situation.

Today, young people are under a large amount of pressure, and are dealing with a wide range of issues. Although there are services available for those in crisis, once the crisis has been resolved, there is little support available and young people are left with nowhere to turn.

In order to remember Emma, and pay tribute to her life, we want to raise money to set up a charity called Emma‘s Embrace that will help young people between the ages of 16 and 25, who are struggling with the pressures of adult life.

Emma’s Embrace is a charity set up to ensure that the views of young people influence the services and support provided to improve young peoples health and well being. It seeks to understand what pressures they are under, the challenges they face and the stress this brings. We aim to understand the reasons why so many young people are reporting poor mental health and identify ways to address the causes. We will do this by asking young people what the issues are and what support they need in tackling those issues.

The purpose is to promote the mental well being of young people between the ages of 16 and 25, to ensure they receive the social support they need, when they need it, to deal with life’s challenges, with a focus on early intervention and prevention.

It plans to do this by means of:

1. Undertaking research into the how young people access available support, what services they need to advance through life and what current services provide

2. Influencing policy makers to ensure the provision of Public Health information on the ways to maintain positive mental health through social media and other means

3. Influencing policy makers to listen to the views of young people to ensure services are appropriate, effective and timely

4. Working with other charitable organisations to maximise resources to promote positive mental health

Our first priority is to undertake research to help us understand why it is that 1 in 4 of all young people are reported to be ‘struggling with mental health’. To that end we are working in partnership with Leeds Beckett University to undertake an original piece of research, both on a PhD basis spanning 3 years alongside a shorter-term project. Our proposal for this original piece of research has the backing of Leeds Mind and another local mental health charity, Touchstone.

Emma’s Embrace has already set up a working party to look at ways of providing early support to young people.

Emma’s Embrace Trustee Board is made up of newly qualified and experienced professionals, with many years of senior management experience within the field of Health and Social Care. Its dominant voice is the young people on the board who are guiding the charity’s strategic direction of travel