NEWS: Wee Seeds officially designated social enterprise - all profits go back into Growing Minds
Christina Cran Cran 
ANNOUNCEMENT: Social business aimed at helping end the current child mental health crisis officially designated social enterprise status
A mission led business with a vision to positively shape the mental health of the next generation and help end the child mental health crisis has pledged to give its profits away to support families living in poverty.
Wee Seeds has operated since its launch as a socially minded organisation, giving away resources to charities and other social enterprises.
But now the business has officially been granted its own social enterprise status meaning it becomes a non-profit making organisation, with a concrete mission. (1)
Speaking about the move to become Wee Seeds CIC, the founder of Wee Seeds, Christina Cran, said: “The social impact of Wee Seeds has always been of great importance to me personally. We aren’t all in the same boat, or often the same storm, and making sure we can smooth the journey for those who are in a different boat is fundamental to our organisation.
“We initially operated a buy one, give one, method, and have worked with some amazing charities to trial this model, showing the positive impact our tools can have, but we wanted to ensure we enshrined our social values into our constitution.”
She added: “This means that anyone buying our Wellbeing Toolboxes to support their children at home, in their nursery or school, or working with us through our employer offering, will know without doubt that they are positively impacting on individual lives, and society.
“The current mental health crisis in our children isn’t getting better, and with the Royal College of Psychiatrists report calling for more and better support for babies and young children to ensure they don’t develop lifelong mental health problems, the time is now for us to take action.” (2)
Wee Seeds’ recent impact report (3) into their Mini-Minds wellbeing tools showed:
95% of parents using Wee Seeds said it had a positive effect on their child.
87% said they hoped their child would be more likely to calm down more easily in the future.
Overall the biggest positive changes parents noticed after using Wee Seeds were in sleep, and being able to talk about their feelings.
Wee Seeds worked with ten charities and social enterprises to give away its mental health resources to families they worked with.
Now, instead of the old Buy One, Give One model, Wee Seeds has pledged to give away 5,000 toolboxes to families living in poverty, or struggling with their mental health, over the next five years - through its new Growing Minds social impact programme. (4)
Poverty has a negative impact on mental health. Children and adults living in households in the lowest 20% income bracket in Great Britain are 2-3 times more likely to develop mental health problems than those in the highest. (5) That’s why Wee Seeds is pledging to support families living in poverty, or struggling with their mental health.
Meditation and mindfulness are now widely used in schools, universities and workplaces – but Wee Seeds exists to bring this to early years children. Studies in America show that these types of practices can affect preschoolers’ children’s focus, attention, sense of calm and kindness. Early intervention changes lives: 50% of all mental health problems are established by the age of 14. (6 & 7)
/ends
Notes to Editors -
https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/SC621074
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ubRrS0kxTpAUqVUUIefBtWkOBKOVywcU/view
Mental Health Foundation
Kessler RC, Berglund P, Demler O, Jin R, Merikangas KR, Walters EE. (2005). Lifetime Prevalence and Age-of-Onset Distributions of DSM-IV Disorders in the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62 (6) pp. 593-602. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.62.6.593
https://centerhealthyminds.org/assets/files-publications/FlookPromotingDevPsych.pdf
Categories: Press Release
