Rewrite Your Story receives £1000 donation from John Lewis Partnership

Rachel Perrett (COO at Therapy Partners), Billy (Paws 2 Learn, therapy dog) and Alan Heyes (Founder/Trustee of Rewrite Your Story).

‘Rewrite Your Story, a specialist young people’s mental health charity based in Maidstone, Kent has received a generous donation of £1000 from John Lewis Bluewater, the UK’s largest employee-owned business and parent company of John Lewis Partnership and Waitrose.

The donation was made as part of John Lewis Partnership’s ‘Community Matters’ scheme, which offers each Partner (staff member) the opportunity to vote for a local charity (or community group) to receive a grant. With a current focus of ‘Health and well-being’, Rewrite Your Story is delighted to be selected as one of three local charities to benefit from the support of the John Lewis store in Bluewater, Kent.

Rewrite Your Story was set up in 2017 by Alan Heyes, MD of Therapy Partners, to provide vital early support to vulnerable young people and their families to overcome the impact of mental health crises, including eating disorders/self-harm, anxiety, depression and other challenges. The charity works with schools across Kent and Dorset by offering a range of well-being support services and training.

The charity also works closely with local authorities, employers and community organisations to raise awareness and promote positive mental health and well-being for all age groups, including through Men2, a successful peer-to-peer talking group and its innovative, ‘Paws 2 Learn’ project – with a qualified professional and specially trained Rewrite Your Story ‘therapy dog’ working within primary schools to help young children struggling with school life, to better engage with teachers and classmates.

Trustee, Alan Heyes said: “We are incredibly grateful to John Lewis Bluewater for this kind donation. As a small but developing charity, the ‘cost of living’ crisis has resulted in a dramatic drop in Rewrite Your Story’s income from and private donations – and with more and more very good causes in competition for the increasingly limited level of money that is available – the Partner’s incredibly generous support will enable us to help more young people in crisis this winter’

Kate Seamark, John Lewis Bluewater’s Partner & Community Liaison Coordinator, said: when our Partners in the shop read about this charity, they wanted to support the work that ‘Rewrite your story’ does and therefore we are delighted to be able to do so.

johnlewispartnership.co.uk