On Friday 25th October, Wave Community Bank’s Deputy CEO, Emma Norledge, and Business Development Officer for Kent, Phill Thorne, attended the 2024 Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards ceremony at Ashford International Hotel.
260 people attended on the night which began with entertainment from Ashford’s local Rock Choir. The event, staged by Mind in Bexley and East Kent, was hosted by Nicola Everett, head of multimedia at kmfm and KentOnline and Simon Dolby, Development Lead at Mind in Bexley and East Kent, and featured VIP speaker Hari Budha Magar, a champion of disability and veterans rights, along with keynote speeches from Lady Colgrain, Lord-Lieutenant of Kent, and Paul Bartlett, Chairman of the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee at Kent County Council.
A raffle on the evening raised over £1,000 for the Mental Health Bank, an innovation run by Revival Food and Mood in Whitstable, which aims to transform mental wellbeing in the community through the provision of complementary wellbeing therapies.
This year saw a 55% increase in the numbers of nominations submitted with judges assessing over 350 entries. Each nominee was carefully evaluated and chosen by a diverse, independent panel of 12 judges from across the region, ensuring that the most deserving individuals and organisations were honoured. The judging panel included representatives from Kent County Council, Kent Community Foundation, Optyma Security, ADM Computing, National Grid GrainLNG, Medway Council, Cactus Graphics, Blé Global, CommunityAd and Wave Community Bank and led to 50 winners and 20 champions from across Kent, Medway, Bexley and Bromley being announced at the ceremony.
Our Deputy CEO Emma Norledge presented awards to several organisations based in Canterbury. These included Amy Hopper, founder of the Triumph Over Adversity group, the lively Alex Richardson from Keep Talking Services, Blossom Home Care, and My Birth Support CIC.
Emma was also asked to present awards to Maidstone based organisations 21 Together, Emerge Advocacy and North Borough Junior School for their commitment to social, emotional and mental health for all.
The final duty for the night for Emma was to present the Kent Disability Champion of the year award to Bright Shadow, an organisation dedicated to improving the lives of people living with dementia and their supporters through high-quality artistic experiences.
” Wave Community Bank’s support for the Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards is key for us to show our commitment to not only enhancing mental health initiatives but underlining the vital connection between financial wellbeing and mental health in the community. On behalf of everyone at Wave Community Bank, congratulations to all the winners at the Kent Mental Wellbeing Awards. Your outstanding contributions to mental health and wellbeing in our community are truly commendable and a heartfelt thanks should go to all the organisations involved for their dedicated efforts.” – said Phill Thorne, Business Development Officer for Kent.
For details on all the award winners – please go to https://eastkentmind.org.uk/kent-mental-wellbeing-awards-2024-winners/
If your organisation is looking to enhance the mental health and wellbeing of your employees, consider our free Chorus Workplace Savings Scheme – a simple way to help your staff save directly from their wages while also providing access to ethical affordable loans and fostering a more financially secure workforce leading to an enhance feeling of wellbeing.
