We are delighted to announce that our partnership with Place to Wonder has been awarded the inaugural Mental Health and Wellbeing award at the annual Arts & Business NI awards 2021.

 

 

We are delighted to announce that our partnership with Place to Wonder has been awarded the inaugural Mental Health and Wellbeing award at the annual Arts & Business NI awards 2021.

It is a true honour for our partnership with Place to Wonder to be bestowed an award of this magnitude and it is particularly pleasing to be recognised for the work on such an important issue like mental health and wellbeing in the youth.

Commercial Director of Heron Bros. Noel Mullan commented on the news of receiving the award by stating “It is a great honour to receive the Mental Health & Wellbeing award from Arts & Business NI for our partnership with Place to Wonder. Our partnership began 3 years ago as a result of the Heron Bros. Social Enterprise Fund and it has been a hugely rewarding experience, collaborating and supporting their work tackling such an important issue of youth mental health and anxiety. We are excited to see what the future holds for this partnership and we look forward to working with Sam and the team in the future.”

Sam Porciello, managing director of Place to Wonder, successfully submitted an application to the Heron Bros. Social Enterprise Fund in 2019 and since then the partnership has blossomed. The Heron Bros. Social Enterprise Fund has been used to support the launch of the “Dream a Little Dream” book. The book follows the journey of Luna, a little girl who is stuck in her bad dream and has to find something truly beautiful to wake up.  The 44 page relaxation book has tools to empower parents / carers to gently support children to self-regulate, process worries and build self esteem. In addition to the launch of the book itself the funding has also been used for social media advertising, digital advertising, Arts & Business membership, Mums at Work membership, marketing and design and a video for online promotion.

The awards pieces were created by four printmakers from Seacourt Print Workshop: Merve Jones, Steph Harrison, Nathalie Caleyron Donnelly and Jess Hollywood. The artists produced original prints responding to the theme of living through COVID-19.

For the Mental Health and Wellbeing category the print “Backyard Haven” by Natalie Caleyron Donnelly was presented. Shauna Young and Gerard Diamond were delighted to accept the prize on behalf of the whole Belfast Leisure Project Delivery Team from Maeve McKervey of Arts & Business NI.

Pictured L-R: Gerard Diamond, Project Manager at Heron Bros; Martin Shortt, Gateman; Patrick Mallon, Site Engineer, Padhraic McCorry, Placement Engineer; Shauna Young Corporate Responsibility & Development Manager and Maeve McKervey from Arts&Business NI.

Katherine McDonald, from Arts & Business NI remarked that “It was such a super project whatever angle you looked at it. It had so many strengths. First of all the issue it was tackling is such a relevant issue, helping children and very young people manage anxiety, understand mindfulness, manage their own moods and wellbeing from a really early age, such a valuable life skill.”

The judges also felt that the partnership will allow this project to have a lasting impact and has the potential to expand internationally.

Katherine also commented that “One of the really nice things seem to be the way Heron Bros. just responded as the project developed and has stayed involved and responded to support Place to Wonder as different opportunities have opened up.”

We are proud to receive this award in partnership with Place to Wonder and look forward to seeing what the future has in store.

 

For more information on ‘Place to Wonder’  CLICK HERE

To purchase your copy of ‘Dream a Little Dream’ CLICK HERE