CHUMS Charity

CHUMS Charity is thrilled to have been chosen as SME’s charity partner for the SME Luton and Bedfordshire Business Awards 2020.  Our parent - CHUMS Social Enterprise CIC - won this prestigious award in 2019 in the Not For Profit Business of the Year category.  We were very proud when they also went on to win Silver at the National Awards at Wembley in December. 

CHUMS Charity fills the gaps in local mental health provision.  These are all services that you would probably know nothing about until you or someone in your world suddenly needed them.  We support 5 charitably funded mental health and emotional wellbeing services across Bedfordshire & Luton:  

• The Bedfordshire Suicide Bereavement Service (BSBS) for families bereaved by suicide.  We work in partnership with Bedfordshire Police so that they can refer to us as early as possible, so that we can support families within the first 48 hours of a suicide or suspected suicide death.  In 2019 the number of suicides tragically doubled in this area and we were overwhelmed with referrals.  Our campaign to support these families is ongoing and you can read more at about this at: https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/bsbsappeal
• The Bereavement and Non-bereavement Trauma Services for children and young people who have been traumatically bereaved through murder, suicide, road traffic collision or other sudden/multiple deaths in the family, or have been sexually abused or suffered other trauma in their young lives
• The Babyloss Service for families, following the death of a baby before, at or soon after birth. We offer phone call support, 1:1s, couples support, monthly meetings, Remembrance events and ongoing support into further pregnancies
• Recreational Therapeutic music and football programmes for children aged 8 to 14 who cannot readily engage in 1:1 talking therapies and need time to build a trusting relationship through music or football.
• The Disability Friendship Scheme providing a safe Friday night social space in Luton for children and young people aged 13 to 25 with learning and/or physical disabilities

In 2019 we launched our new monthly support groups for adults who have been bereaved by suicide.  These run every 4th Wednesday in central Bedford 7-9pm and are in addition to our existing children’s suicide support groups.  Anyone who lives in Bedfordshire and who has been bereaved by suicide at any point and in any location, can come along to receive support. 

Please do pass on this information to anyone who would benefit from one of our services. 

For more information please contact declan.duggan@chumscharity.org  or call 01525 863924 to speak to Sue, Declan or Rianna. 

If you would like to make a donation, our bank details are CHUMS Charity, 08-92-99 a/c 65862241