MAC-UK wins Ben & Jerry’s UK social enterprise award
MAC-UK, an organisation which supports the mental health of youth offenders, has won an international social enterprise award by Ben & Jerry’s. The panel selected MAC-UK as Ben & Jerry’s Top Social Enterprise in the UK. The organisation will receive €10,000 (around £8,500) as well as business mentoring from Ashoka, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs. MAC-UK co-founder and CEO Dr Charlie Alcock will undergo additional training during a trip to the ice cream maker’s headquarters in Vermont, USA.
She said: “Winning this competition means the world to us and is going to help us grow in the best possible way.”
Set up in 2008, MAC-UK works with young people to find new answers to the complex problem of youth offending and mental health. The organisation’s approach grew from working alongside young people in Camden, London, and, with the belief that there is a better way of delivering mental health support. Following its Integrate© model, MAC-UK works intensively for two to four years with up to 50 young people per year. These young people are among the five per cent that commit 50 per cent of youth crime and have a history of non-engagement with existing services. MAC-UK gives them the opportunity to create and own a project they find interesting, and works together with the young people on their chosen project. It aims to help them develop leadership and employment skills and to build trusting relationships with MAC-UK staff.
The organisation takes best practices from the mental health field and uses them to deliver Streetherapy©. Streetherapy can take anywhere, for example on a bus, in a stairwell, or whilst at court. It allows people to engage in therapy at their own pace and in a way they feel comfortable with.
The PHF Social Justice programme has supported MAC-UK from early on in its existence. It currently supports testing of the Integrate model with a grant of £150,000 over two years.
