We are proud to announce that we will be opening our brand new online mental health support service, Chat with Charlie, on today for students of the University of Essex to mark Mental Health Awareness Week.
A team of trained volunteers will be on hand to offer online mental health support and signposting to students three evenings per week between 6pm and 10pm initially before increasing to seven night per week.
The service has been funded by the Charlie Watkins Foundation, set-up in memory of Charlie Watkins, from Higham, Essex who sadly took his own life in March 2017. Since Charlie’s death we have been working with the Foundation and the University to Essex to implement a service which offers additional mental health support to students.
James McQuiggan, Chief Executive for Mid and North East Essex Mind said ’We’re extremely pleased to be able to support the students of the University of Essex with this new service and work closely with the family of Charlie Watkins. The Foundation, which was set up by his twin brother Harry Watkins are funding the online service. With this approach it has enabled us to create something that is current and will engage those that might not normally seek help and advice.
By providing a service like this we will be able to support those that might need our help but also raise awareness around mental health and that it’s alright to reach out and talk. Chat with Charlie is available to each and every student registered with the University which means there is potential to provide support to many young people who are often away from home, have pressures on them to succeed and have feelings of isolation.’
To find out more about this service, or if you are a student looking to access the service please click here.