Our roots in mental health and emotional wellbeing
Laura, the Creator and Director at Found North East, brings a wealth of lived experience in understanding and managing mental health and emotional wellbeing challenges. Her journey includes both personal insights and the perspective of a parent navigating the complexities of her children's mental health needs. Professionally, Laura has supported a diverse range of individuals, offering guidance tailored to their unique experiences and needs. Her dedication and expertise are at the heart of our commitment in fostering mental and emotional wellness for parents and families in the community.
Mental Health and wellbeing
Found North East is underpinned by our directors lived experience of managing mental health, both personally and professionally and overcoming many challenges relating to it. Leading Found North East from a parental standpoint with a sprinkle of professional knowledge, learning and tools from her years working with people with mental health difficulties and needs. It's also important to mention the value in experience of caring for others, while also managing your own difficulties in this arena, (as many of us, especially us parents and carers) will experience!
Emotional Health and wellbeing
At Found North East we believe that more work needs to be done in educating and empowering people to understanding themselves and emotions. Generations before us, generally haven't done so great with this! Generally, the education around this often isn't taught until people are at crisis or in difficult situations, this then in turn can feed into poor mental health. It is our belief that emotional health and wellbeing should be educated across the board, children and adults alike, as it is a big part of our very human experience.
Male specific projects across the NE.
Don't be deceived by the pretty website, or mention of "wellbeing" and the "fluffy " connotations that come with that word. Our director is a mother of 2 boys , and fully understands that regulation can come with boxing gloves! With an awareness of the gender differences in mental health and wellbeing data, we aim to explore all ways of helping parents and families, and that includes the boys and men in them! It's amazing that boys and men are being encouraged to talk and open up more compared to generations before. At Found North East we want to be as inclusive as possible for men and boys, and are continuously learning. We are open to collaborations, and piloting our work to find what works to be inclusive as possible for the men and boys in our life too.
Neurodiversity
For many families, including our directors, Neurodiversity is very much part of every day life. It's been a major part of Found North East. Here's a word from our director, Laura...
"As a professional, I felt like I knew enough, as a parent I can tell you I'm STILL only scratching the surface now, many years into our journey! I feel like you genuinely cannot understand this journey, unless you are living it and breathing it every day. And whether I sat in another SEN meeting, or with friends and family, explaining things to my managers or colleagues, or filling forms in for support for him; it became clear that many people simply do not understand enough- how could they? We weren't taught it! Many people struggle to understand that neurodiversity is NOT a mental health difficulty, but a neurotype. Mental health and emotional wellbeing needs are so important to us all, but even more so, if you live with a neurotype in a world that only creates, exacerbates or misunderstands you, which then creates trauma or mental health problems. The biggest shocker for me on this journey was just the absolute lack of support for parents trying to navigate it all. And with recent changes in the news all the time, its concerning to think about what the future will look like for both my sons to be honest, and so many other children and families with additional needs."
From our director, a parent of a SEN child, we've seen first hand how systems and a world that doesn't understand them, can negatively impact those who are neurodiverse and their families around them, who fight tirelessly to give them equality. At Found North East we believe more needs to be done, and we're determined to do what we can to part of positive change for parents and families in our community.
