World Mental Health Day 2020

The theme for 2020 is #mentalhealthforall and one of the sub themes is #shareyourstory

World mental health day is about reaching those unreachable and sharing stories to emphasise the fact that you are not alone and it’s ok not to be ok.

We all have our own stories of heartache, struggle and grief. Many find peace in sharing those stories and others find comfort of keeping it to themselves but it is experiences that bring us all together in hope of fighting mental health illnesses and prevent the course of suicide.

Keep sharing your stories, promoting wellbeing and positive direction. It means more to people than you know.

This is my last message from my brother, Zachary. A random message on 15th March 2017.

I often share his message to me, but not my reply as I find it had to read. I couldn’t wait until he came home the following week, but the hard part of this message is that he never did.

#worldmentalhealthday2020 #wmhd2020 #zgbtst

Springwell Running Club Fundraising!

A huge thank you to Springwell Running Club for donating a fantastic £300 each to ZGBTST & Community Rescue Service Northern District
from a recent fundraiser.

We were very pleased to meet the runners from the club at Castlerock Beach where they were presented with our new glass awards which were kindly sponsored by Glenview Trophies Ltd to give to everyone who decides they wish to fundraise for the Trust.

Meeting of ZGBTST and Springwell Running Club at Castlerock Beach

Due to Covid 19 – fundraisers have hit a low for us this year and we rely heavy on donations from the community.

Point of Light Award

Our founder Yasmin Geddis was the 1412 recipient of the Prime Ministers Points of Light Award for her work within ZGBTST.

Points of Light are awarded to outstanding individual volunteers – people who are making a change in their community. These awards are not given based on nominations. We are so grateful that our work within the community (and beyond) has been recognised from far afield.

A letter to Yasmin from Boris Johnson in recognition of her work with ZGBTST

You can read more about the programme below and see other award recipients.

Thank you for your continued support

National Diversity Awards

ZGBTST received the news that we have been nominated in the Community Organisation Multi Strand Category.

What an honour this is, the National Diversity Awards are UK wide and a prestigious black tie event, which celebrates the excellent achievements of grass- root communities that tackle the issues in today’s society, giving them recognition for their dedication and hard work.

The awards take place in Liverpool in September (all being well) and the final 8 to attend the awards ceremony.

Workshop Opening

Our workshop officially opened on 24th Janruary 2020.We had our launch day for Hidden Treasures and our ZGBTST Workshop located at 28 Long Commons Coleraine. Helen Thompson, devotes to giving back to the community asked us to come on board and provided us with an amazing space in her one of a kind thrift store in the heart of Coleraine.

Within this space the trust is now proud to provide a unique space for:

🌱 1-2-1 Mental Health Mentoring
🌱 Bereaved by suicide weekly meetings
🌱 Mothers Mornings
🌱 Free of charge, non referral professional counselling service
🌱 Drop in Centre
🌱 Craft Workshops

We are very excited to have this new venture with Louise Geddis taking the reigns on this project and creating a beautiful, calming space for all our users.