stem4 is delighted to have received £5,000 from The Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund to run two student conferences – one in Wandsworth and one in Merton and a teacher conference.

stem4 offers conferences for secondary school students, parents/carers, teaching professionals and healthcare professionals. These conferences are designed to inform participants of the early signs of mental health problems and what steps they can take to make change. They encourage dialog, create a platform to share ideas and provide a forum to consider best practice and standards of care.

Dr Krause, eminent Consultant Clinical Psychologist and CEO and Founder of stem4, said “We are really pleased to be supported by The Wimbledon Foundation Community Fund to deliver our conferences to students and to teachers. The student conferences make a real difference by providing students with a forum for accessing evidence-based information, providing opportunities which otherwise don’t exist to discuss mental health matters with other young people of the same age, learn how to build resilience with tools informed by psychological research, listen to the experience of young adults with lived experiences which they find easy to relate to and make things real and learn how to take steps to make positive change for themselves, including learning to build self-esteem and manage stress. It is also an opportunity for them to take a lead in making a difference in their schools through cascading information in assemblies, for example, or taking a lead in working collaboratively and as a community on relevant mental health initiatives – all opportunities that would otherwise not be easily available.

Our teacher conferences impart up-to-date information, generate discussion and an opportunity to share in best practice and we are very keen to not only support the mental health of students but of teachers too, so that together with our existing work with parents we offer a comprehensive three-pronged service that supports the entire community surrounding a young person.”

The Wimbledon Foundation is the charity of The All England Lawn Tennis Club. Set up in 2013, the Foundation aims to change people’s lives using the heritage and resources of the All England Club and The Championships and builds on a successful programme of community and charitable activities over a number of years.