A Southwark charity that helps mums, whose children are taken into care or loose custody to family members or spouses, has been selected for a prestigious public health award, writes Hillary Chaisson….
Pause has been selected to represent Southwark in the mental health and wellbeing category at the twelfth annual health and wellbeing awards put on by the Royal Society for Public Health.
Pause offers support and services for women that have experienced and are experiencing the removal of children from their care.
Research by Lancaster University shows that over 11,000 women had more than one child removed between 2007 and 2014.
One in four women, who have had a child removed through the family courts and is likely to have another taken away.
That number further increases to one in three if the woman is a teenage mother.
Pause aims to support women through offering a variety of services centred around emotional, mental, sexual well being as well as offering career or educational support.
The goal of the charity is to encourage women to take a pause from pregnancy and child removal and heal.
Shirley Cramer CBE, chief executive at RSPH, said: “The Health and Wellbeing Awards is the UK’s premier awards scheme for promoting health and wellbeing.
“To be shortlisted from among such strong competition is a fantastic achievement, so every organisation that has made it to this stage can be rightly proud of the workbuy zetia to improve and protect the public’s health.”
Category winners will have the opportunity to be selected for the prestigious Public Health Minister’s Award, while all finalists will be considered for two special commendations ( reducing inequalities at the community level and sustainable development) to be given by Public Health England (PHE).
The winners will be revealed at the RSPH Awards 2019 ceremony which will take place on Thursday the 17th of October at the East Wintergarden in London.