In times when children’s mental health, emotional wellbeing, and resilience are more important than ever, programmes like Verbal Wellbeing offer a critical service to schools. Their platform uses storytelling, psychology and data to help children build emotional literacy and resilience with story-based lessons, guided discussions, and age-appropriate resources integrated into the school day.
When a business decides to fund such a programme, it’s more than simply a donation: it becomes a tangible investment in the future mental health, wellbeing, and community cohesion of children.
Shared social responsibility
Even smaller local enterprises can play a role. Supporting mental-health and wellbeing education helps address issues early – reducing long-term costs to communities, health services, and society.
Corporate/Community alignment
For larger organisations — housing associations, social enterprises, or corporate firms – funding wellbeing programmes aligns closely with community-oriented values (e.g., providing safe, supportive environments, promoting inclusion, supporting families).
Community goodwill & cohesion
Especially in the Northern Ireland context, mental-health and “good relations” work can foster community cohesion, inclusion and respect. Past projects funded by social housing or public-sector grants via Verbal have shown benefits beyond mental health: greater understanding, diversity awareness, reduced conflict — aligning with broader social mission.
Scalable impact
Because Verbal Wellbeing’s model is adaptable — covering whole-class, 1-to-1 support, special needs, different age groups, businesses can fund a level of involvement that suits their resources. From a modest grant to fully sponsoring several classes or even a whole school, there’s flexibility.
Measurable outcomes
Verbal Wellbeing collects data to monitor emotional wellbeing outcomes, resilience, mood, helping funders see real impact. That’s attractive for businesses wanting accountability, impact measurement, or reporting on “social value.”
Apex Housing Association, though primarily a housing and social-support provider, is rooted in social enterprise values: delivering quality homes, supporting vulnerable tenants, and investing in wider community wellbeing
Their funding of schools to run the Verbal Wellbeing programme underscores a broader view: housing is not just about bricks and mortar, but about building sustainable, caring communities. By supporting mental-health education in schools, Apex leverages their organisational strength to benefit the next generation — children who might one day become residents, neighbours, or community members.
That collaboration demonstrates how a business outside of “education” or “charity” per se can still play a meaningful, effective role in supporting mental health and social cohesion.
Want to see how Verbal Wellbeing could work in your school without adding to teachers’ workloads? We’d love to offer you a free trial of our programme.
Join other primary schools who are embedding robust wellbeing practices — in a way that feels natural, meaningful, and sustainable.
Partnership Funding / Sponsorship
Businesses can sponsor a whole-school programme or a cluster of classes. This could be seasonal (e.g., support a school through a term) or long-term.
For small firms, funding a classroom or part of the programme may still have measurable benefits; for larger firms, entire schools or multiple schools could be supported.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) / Social Value Programmes
Many organisations run CSR or social value strategies. Supporting mental-health programmes for children slots neatly under such strategies.
Companies can leverage this for stakeholder engagement, community goodwill, and to show impact.
Collaborations with Charities, Housing & Community Organisations
By partnering with organisations already working in social housing or community support (e.g. social housing associations, charities, NGOs), businesses can pool resources for greater impact — similar to how housing associations supported Verbal Wellbeing previously
Long-term Strategic Investment
Rather than one-off grants, businesses could commit to multi-year funding, building sustained support for emotional wellbeing in school communities, creating stability and long-term benefit.
This also aligns with social enterprise values: invest now to build healthier, more resilient future communities.
Funding education-based wellbeing initiatives is not just charity, it’s strategic community investment. By supporting programmes like Verbal Wellbeing, businesses contribute to raising emotionally resilient, empathetic, mentally healthy young people who are more likely to succeed, contribute positively to society, and build stronger communities.
The collaboration between Verbal Wellbeing and Apex Housing shows what’s possible when organisations think beyond traditional sector boundaries and invest in what matters most: the wellbeing and potential of children.
For any business — whether a local small company or a large enterprise, funding such programmes can be a vital part of building inclusive, supportive, and sustainable communities for the future.
If you still need more information we’re here to help.
Contact us by phone or email. Alternatively you can use our customer enquiry form and one of our friendly staff will be in touch.