Michael Jones Jeweller, a renowned and respected supplier of watches and jewellery based in Northampton and Banbury, has chosen to support The Lowdown from its community fund for the next three years.
The Lowdown, based in Kingswell Street, is a mental health charity that has been supporting young people in Northampton for over 32 years. It provides a caring, non-judgemental environment where young people are supported in their journey towards positive emotional health and wellbeing. It offers free and confidential counselling, wellbeing drop-ins, LGBTQ+ support services, practical support and sexual health services for 11 to 25-year-olds in Northampton and the surrounding areas.
The effect of the pandemic on young people’s mental health and wellbeing means more young people are referring into The Lowdown’s services as they feel unable to cope with the issues they face on their own. Through its services, The Lowdown provided 12,243 support contacts for young people and their families and supported 2,063 individuals from April 2021 to March 2022. Referrals for their counselling service alone increased by 55% from the previous year as they provided 9,540 sessions to 1,473 individuals during the same time frame, a 24% increase.
Due to this increase in demand, The Lowdown is in the process of developing an outbuilding for its established Espresso Yourself Café every Monday and Friday, providing a drop-in for young people and their parents and carers and provide new youth services. The £5,000 being donated by the Michael Jones Jeweller Community Fund each year for the next three years will go towards developing and supporting the additional youth activities and projects.
“We are delighted to be chosen as a beneficiary of the Michael Jones Jeweller Community Fund,” said Ellie White, Fundraising and Marketing Manager. “Support from local businesses is so important and not only raises funds and awareness for our services, but also promotes the businesses and their support of charity work. The funds donated will make a huge difference to young people’s lives, giving them access to new youth activities in the heart of Northampton town centre.”
Matthew Tyrrell, Director of Michael Jones Jeweller said: “This is a wonderful charity for our community fund to support. Michael Jones Jeweller celebrated its centenary in 2019 but with global lockdowns, social media and the unstable nature of the planet, young people have never had such a complicated world to navigate.
“Our members are delighted to help The Lowdown with the vital support they provide to young people.”
For more information on services provided by the lowdown visit their website.
For information on Michael Jones Jeweller visit their website.
