County Durham Community Foundation is seeking applications for its Winter Resilience Fund that will provide financial support for voluntary organisations and community groups that are providing health and wellbeing support and have struggled financially during COVID-19 due to limited access to funding, loss of funding and an increase in workload.

The funding has been provided through NHS North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System (ICS) Mental Health programme.

Funding Aims

• Retention of much needed community resources and services 2 Guidelines Nov. 2020
• Increased capacity to support the most vulnerable over the winter period
• A reduction in loneliness and social isolation
• Supporting people appropriately while shielding
• More face to face support for vulnerable patients
• Expanded voluntary sector capacity to provide the support needed to de-escalate people in crisis, who do not meet the clinical thresholds to access crisis resolution and home treatment teams (CRHTs)
• Practical support for people to engage in community and statutory services and remain engaged when they have in the past disengaged
• Increased levels of peer support available to work alongside CRHTs
• Increased support for people pre-crisis to prevent them experiencing crisis
• Greater community capacity to cope with challenging situations
• More people able to self-manage
• Less reliance on GP and secondary care services
• Greater awareness of mental illness among the population

Funding Themes

• Support the Continuation of Services
• Non-clinical psychological support to provide bespoke, holistic community support
• Peer Produced Mental Health self-management training

Funding Information

• Grant awards up to £25,000 will be considered.

Geographical Focus

The Fund supports North Cumbria and North East. Within the North East the regions supported are those communities covered by:

• NHS Tees Valley CCG
• NHS Sunderland CCG
• NHS County Durham CCG
• NHS South Tyneside CCG
• NHS North Tyneside CCG
• NHS Newcastle Gateshead CCG
• NHS Northumberland CCG

Eligibility Criteria

• Priority for funding will be given to locally based community organisations that support the health and wellbeing, including mental health, of local people throughout the North East of England.

For more information, visit Winter Resilience Fund.