The charity, Sea Sanctuary, based in Penryn, is Cornwall's largest, non-statutory provider of mental health care in the county. The service, set up in 2006, now risks imminent closure unless it can secure immediate funding.

Since its launch, Sea Sanctuary has helped thousands of young people and adults who have struggled with their mental health. The charity has been a lifeline for many of its clients, most of whom have no other support and suffer from a raft of illnesses and disorders.

Providing a non-medicalised approach, the charity has pioneered the Blue Health approach, utilising the sea as the backdrop for psychological support and improved well-being. It is this unique approach that has helped thousands of people back to health and shown that effective treatment and support are possible outside of the medical model.

Sea Sanctuary- The Arc Well Being Hub

The charity has achieved remarkable results, including numerous awards and testimonies from people who have thanked the charity for saving their life and improving health outcomes.

Due to the lasting impact of COVID, a reduction in grant funding and the shift in the financial climate, Sea Sanctuary now risks permanent closure. Unfortunately, many of the people supported by Sea Sanctuary have no funds available to pay for treatment.

As such, Sea Sanctuary has worked on securing grant funding or relied on members of the public to undertake fundraising activities. Sadly, though, as it stands, with ever-increasing costs and despite these efforts, the charity does not have enough funds to continue the service.

Sea Sanctuary- Sailing Session

The charity's CEO and founder, Joe Sabien says: "Sea Sanctuary offers a really wide-ranging and large number of community-based projects, from individual therapy, creative wellbeing groups, therapeutic sailing programmes, and crisis intervention working alongside the police. Should the charity close, all these projects will all cease to operate. This will be devastating for the people of Cornwall and will result in hundreds of vulnerable people with no support.

"More worryingly, many of the people the charity supports are suicidal or have suicidal thoughts. The G999 project (a police call sign) working alongside the Devon & Cornwall police, actively engages with young people and adults who are often suicidal. Should the service cease to exist, the result would be life-threatening or worse."

As a final attempt to save the charity, they have launched the 'Save our Sanctuary' emergency appeal which aims to generate £200,000 by the end of December 2022. If successful, Sea Sanctuary hopes to continue delivering services to beneficiaries. However, if unsuccessful, this will result in the closure of the charity by the end of December.

The appeal now asks the people of Cornwall; individuals, businesses, and organisations to help prevent the closure of the charity, Its survival is certainly possible but time is of the essence.

How to help :

• Donate to the appeal – Online (see below)
• Donate to the appeal – By text (see below)
• Fundraise on behalf of the charity
• Spread the word - Share the appeal with friends and family

Text 'SOSAPPEAL' followed by your donation to 70085 to give that amount - Texts will cost the donation amount plus one standard network rate message, and you'll be opting into hearing more from us. If you wish to donate but don't wish to hear more from us, please text 'SOSAPPEALNOINFO' instead.

For more information or to donate online visit: Appeal - Sea Sanctuary.