MORE than £200,000 has been given to support young people with their mental health.

The North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group has awarded £230,000 to six organisations - Mid and North East Essex Mind in Colchester, The Maze Group, The Ark Centre, Beat, Reprezent and Community 360’s Wild Wellbeing project.

Colchester-based Mind is working on a project for young people aged 16 to 19 who have Autism or ADHD and have been excluded from school.

The project will focus on early intervention, signposting to support and peer mentoring.

It has received £99,540 from the clinical commissioning group and will begin the project in April.

The Maze Group, in Ipswich, was given £6,990 for a specialist 12-week parenting programme for parents of children with additional needs, with or without a diagnosis.

The Ark Family Resource Centre, based in Harwich, provides a range of support services and pre-school learning for children. It will use £1,800 to provide a therapeutic service to children from five to 18.

Beat, the eating disorder charity, received £3,910 to fund eating disorder information training for school-based professionals.

Another £30,000 has been awarded to the Essex contingent of Reprezent – a youth radio station presented by those under 25.

Community 360 has been given £90,060 to continue its Wild Wellbeing work with the Essex Wildlife Trust to connect children with outdoor activities to improve their mental health and wellbeing.

Pam Green, the group’s director of transformation and strategy, said: “The mental health and wellbeing of children and young people is a key issue and we are working with our partners in the North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance, as part of the development of the NHS Long Term Plan, to ensure all children have the opportunity for the best start in life with access to the right support. We are looking to continue our programme of work to fund health initiatives led by voluntary services.”