LOCAL CANCER CHARITY RECEIVES FUNDING SUPPORT

A grant of £1,032 has been awarded by Manx Lottery Trust to facilitate safe and secure therapy sessions for MCH Psychological Services (formerly Manx Cancer Help).

Many of the charity’s clients are considered high risk in terms of Covid-19, and MCH had to respond swiftly during the time of crisis to adapt how it provides its support and services. As a result, it applied for an emergency grant from Manx Lottery Trust to fund a protective screen for the Old School House in Tromode, where it operates from, in addition to a mobile sink unit to assist with stringent cleaning procedures.

These items have proved themselves as essential and have helped the charity continue to offer face-to-face support and counselling, while taking every precaution to avoid any risk of infection for its clients.

Andrea Chambers, CEO of MCH commented: ‘As it has with most organisations, Covid-19 has presented us with a number of new challenges. Although we’re able to offer effective online and over-the-phone therapy and counselling sessions, this doesn’t suit all of our clients’ needs and doesn’t necessarily work as a long-term solution. That is why we were keen to get measures in place to allow for safe face-to-face sessions as soon as we could.

‘We support 20-30 local people affected by cancer and other life limiting conditions each week and up to 150 annually, and do all we can to guide people through a very difficult time through face-to-face sessions, which are more difficult in the current landscape. We would like to say a huge thank you to Manx Lottery Trust for being part of this process and offering its funding support.’

Chairman of Manx Lottery Trust Sarah Kelly added: ‘We were pleased to offer our support to the charity for this project at what has been a difficult time and hope the items come in useful in both the short and longer term.’

MCH Psychological Services offers free and confidential specialist psychological assessment and counselling sessions to anyone affected by a cancer or life limiting condition diagnosis.

Manx Lottery Trust’s Smaller Grant Programme provides community funding between £300 and £2,500. Information and application forms can be found at www.mlt.org.im/grant-programmes.