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How Supporting Rockinghorse Children's Charity Makes a Difference in Sussex

Today, our guest blog comes from Rockinghorse Children's Charity, a vital part of our local community and member of the Connected100. They share the impactful work they’ve been doing to support children and families in Sussex, and how businesses and individuals can help make a difference.



How to support Rockinghorse, your local children’s charity

 

Over the past year Rockinghorse, with the help of our wonderful corporate supporters, has made it possible for thousands of children and families to get the extra support they need.

 

As your local children’s charity, we have directly supported 185,000 children with 76 different projects during the last year.

 

This includes the premature babies who need specialist equipment to breathe, the children being treated for cancer who need someone to talk to about how they are coping, the teenagers coming to the emergency department after self-harming who need support to manage their mental health, and so many more.

 

Supporting wellbeing

 

We all know that going through a painful medical procedure, spending a long time in hospital, or learning how to manage the impact of a long-term health diagnosis can be really difficult for a child or young person, not just on their physical health but also their mental health and wellbeing.

 

If children feel brave enough to go to the appointment they are so frightened to go to, it means that fewer appointments are missed or delayed, and children and families have a less anxiety-provoking waiting time to undergo the treatment they so desperately need.

 

Or for older children, feeling they have a place to talk about what’s going on for them, somewhere where they don’t feel like the different one, or the ill one, but just a normal kid dealing with a health condition they don’t want and never asked for.

 

This year, we have made it possible for this wellbeing support to be there for hundreds of local families, by creating and delivering a dedicated children’s Wellbeing Service at the Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital.

 

This means children and their families have access to the right support, at the right time, in the right place. Support that can make all the difference to a child’s ability to manage their treatment and make the most of their lives.

 


A world’s first

 

We are also working on an amazing project in conjunction with Royal Alexandra Children’s Hospital and Brighton and Brighton and Sussex Medical School to expand access to the world’s first clinic to treat childhood asthma using innovative precision medicine approaches.

 

More than 1.1 million children in the UK are currently receiving treatment for asthma. The condition is usually treated with inhalers but until recently, this has been generally untargeted with similar approaches being used regardless of the child’s individual characteristics or the child’s environment.

 

Testing a child to determine their genetic make-up can reveal what medications won’t work for them, and crucially, the ones that will. This means that each child has a better chance of receiving more appropriate treatments for their condition.

 

This is a great example of how working directly with doctors and medical staff within the NHS can help make it possible to provide ground-breaking research and treatment that will improve clinical practice and improve access to treatment for generations to come.

 

Mental health and neurodiversity


Being able to support young people’s mental health and neurodiversity is becoming more and more important. One in five young people are currently experiencing some level of mental ill health and self-harming rates in 10–24-year-olds in Brighton alone are almost 50% higher than the rest of England.

 

Recognising the growing need for additional support around this area, we have worked closely with NHS staff on the ground to develop projects that address these needs.

 

This might mean creating spaces better able to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs, like a new sensory room at The Tarner Family Hub in Brighton to help the staff team improve the care they are able to provide their young patients.

 

Or it could be providing another year of funding for their Youth Worker project to help young people regularly coming into the Emergency Department at the Royal Alex with injuries, overdoses and mental health issues related to difficult situations happening in their lives.



The difference our corporate supporters can make

 

Rockinghorse Children's Charity know the difference support from local businesses can have to raise vital funds for babies, children, young people and their families in Sussex, it literally saves lives.

 

It can work so well for you as a business to support a charity, from improving staff retention, recruitment and engagement, reaching new audiences, connecting with other local companies and creating visibility within the community.

 

How your company can support Rockinghorse

 

  • Nominate Rockinghorse as your Charity Partner for the year

  • Payroll Giving and match funding

  • Get involved and attend a Rockinghorse event

  • Hold your own event in aid of Rockinghorse

  • Organise a company golf day

  • Sponsor one of our yearly Rockinghorse charity events

  • Provide products, goods, Easter eggs, Christmas presents and other services that benefit the charity and provide a ‘Gift in Kind’ amount

  • Volunteer for Rockinghorse


Thank you


But absolutely none of this work, or any of the 76 amazing projects delivered by the charity during 2024, would have happened without help from the local community.

 

It’s thanks to the incredible kindness and generosity of companies in our local Sussex business community, that we can make sure children get the best possible care when they are unwell. You enable us to continue to change lives, improve lives and save lives. We couldn’t do it without you.

 

If you and your colleagues would like to get involved, I would love to pop along for a coffee and chat further, just get in touch!



Amanda Hetherington

Head of Partnerships


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