By Stacey Chambers, CFF Project Manager

Ever spent time obsessing over things, worrying about what others think of us or worrying about the ‘what ifs’? If so, like many people, you may be falling into negative thinking traps. Cognitive distortions (thinking traps) hijack our brains and convince us that something bad is happening, that everything is negative etc. when in reality it’s just not true. Often when we are struggling with stress, anxiety and/or worry we can spiral into negative thoughts that can then reinforce negative thinking patterns and as a result escalate feelings of stress and anxiety. The good news is - we can overcome these thinking traps! 

By Lindsay Woodward, Service Director at CFF

CFF has been really fortunate to be selected for two programmes of support via CAST (who are a 'charity on a mission to create a more responsive, resilient and digitally-enabled social sector'), funded by The National Lottery. The first Catalyst programme in autumn 2020 was called 'Discovery' , lasted 4 weeks and helped us to understand how we might use digital to improve our CBT tool called 'Worry Time'.

At the end of that programme we applied for a longer 10 week programme and were delighted to be successful. The Definition programme built on the work we had done last year, with some excellent mentoring from digital experts Bex, Kat and Mille - we had a weekly programme of learning, sharing and developing a digital version of Worry Time.  

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Empowerment: the process of becoming stronger and more confident, especially in controlling one's life and claiming one's rights.

By Jayne Ballard, CEO ​

In this blog I would like to reflect on a very important key process that is central to CFF's delivery and practice: empowerment. Various aspects of CFF's approach, specifically group and workshop programmes are instrumental in empowering parents, carers and young people who attend. How do we do this? Examples of CFF's practice that exemplify empowerment are in the read more section below: 

Friday 30 April 2021 would have been Captain Sir Tom Moore’s 101st birthday and the one-year anniversary of him completing the now famous 100 laps of his gardens. To mark this momentous date, the Captain Tom 100 asks people to dream up and complete a fundraising activity based around the number 100 between Friday 30 April to Monday 3 May, fundraising for a charity of their choice or the Captain Tom Foundation.
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It’s a wonderful opportunity to celebrate Captain Tom’s fundraising spirit and by choosing to support CFF you'll be helping more local young people with their mental health this year. The only requirement is that the activity must follow the Government guidelines on exercise and social distancing. Want some ideas for an activity? 

By Lindsay Woodward, Service Director

If we didn't know it before, one thing the pandemic and lockdowns have shown us is how important social connection is for our mental health and wellbeing. Much of what we took for granted - office kitchen discussions, daily seeing school friends, popping round to see your Gran whenever you liked - has had to stop or has been made more risky or difficult for large parts of the past year. But why is social connection so important to us as a species?