Birmingham Vineyard is a registered charity which exists to bring life to individuals and communities across the city of Birmingham and beyond. We are funded entirely by donations and use these both to resource our own projects and to invest other organisations. Each month, we’ll be profiling one of the organisations we support, letting you know in more detail who they are, what they do and why we think what they’re doing is so important.
This Way Up is a charity which offers pastoral mentoring to young people in the West Midlands. They usually support children who are coping with loss, through bereavement or family breakdown, giving them someone to meet up with regularly and talk to about their experiences and feelings and helping them develop coping strategies.
“14 year-old Tina came to mentoring sessions very anxious about the prospect of her mock exams occurring around the anniversary date of her dad’s death. She had never talked about her dad’s death before but was given the space to do this with her Mentor and to make a memory jar to commemorate him. At the end of her sessions she said that she felt much happier than at the start. She said ”I’m able to see the positives in life and can focus in lessons for the exams””
If you’d like to find out more about This Way Up, or find out how to become a mentor, visit their website, www.twup.org.uk