At Nub News we are at the heart of our communities. We support local groups, businesses and charities by providing them with a platform to tell the town about what they do.

Here, Compton-based Mane Chance Sanctuary outline the vital work they do with children and young people to help them build resilience and good mental health.

February 1st to 7th is Children's Mental Health Week 2021. and here at Mane Chance Sanctuary we want to celebrate that week and the emphasis it places on the importance of children and young people's mental health.

Mane Chance is home to 34 abandoned, neglected, or mistreated horses and ponies, and those amazing horses have slowly recovered, learning to trust people again. Now this remarkable herd give their support to vulnerable children and young adults in our community through links with local schools and some specialist educational programmes.

These help to build confidence, resilience, and self-belief in children, some much-needed skills in these exceptionally difficult times as families must cope with lockdown, school closures and home learning.

Founded by actress Jenny Seagrove nine years ago, Mane Chance Sanctuary understands the healing potential of horses.

The charity runs a successful Mindfulness-based programme that uses the human-horse connection to reinforce the teaching. 

Designed as an early intervention for young people who have been referred for their mental health condition, the #Chance2Be Course has been running since 2017. 

Young people may come with low mood, anger issues, poor confidence, or low self-esteem. Through spending time with the horses, they see how to approach things in a different way - learning to be considerate, calm, and compassionate towards the herd and, ultimately, themselves.

The effect this course has had on some young people has been described as remarkable and transformational. 

Some of the young people have reported an ability to control their feelings more, particularly in relation to anger, and that they feel more confident.

They have been able to learn ways to overcome the day-to-day problems that they face which, prior to attending the course, would have been impossible.

They have been shown to have stronger friendships, to be more adept at maintaining their attention and to learn new skills more easily. They also tend to deal better with the difficulties of daily life. Children who have completed the course have said:

"You have helped me relax and stop bad thoughts overwhelming me.  Thank you.†

"I have learnt different ways to approach certain situations.  I can now solve problems better as I know how to approach it.†

"Mane Chance helped me to find new ways to cope with being under pressure in and out of school."

Chance2Be currently works through 12 local schools, and in line with schools it is closed during the current lockdown, but as soon as restrictions are lifted this vital work will continue.

As a charity Mane Chance relies on donations and grants to fund all its community work. If you would like to know more about their work, please visit the website.

To give your support with a donation please click here.