mentoring programme with St Georges Hospital launched

Dame Kelly Holmes Trust is thrilled to announce its partnership with St George’s Hospital, as the charity continues to expand its transformational one-to-one mentoring programme for young people.

Working in collaboration with St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, St George’s Hospital Charity and thanks to a grant provided by global healthcare company Novo Nordisk, the programme will put world class athlete mentors' shoulder to shoulder with young people who are facing challenges, impacts and inequalities in physical health and exercise.

Following the successful delivery of mentoring in Great Ormond Street Hospital, Sheffield and Alder Hey Children’s Hospitals, funds from both Novo Nordisk and the St George’s Hospital Charity will now enable Dame Kelly Holmes Trust to change the lives of children and young people being treated at St George’s for health complications because of excess weight.

This programme will see the Trust’s athlete mentors motivate young people through their treatment by increasing their engagement in wellbeing, goal setting and mindset towards physical activity. Designed to use personal, social and emotional development practices, the mentoring aims to increase the participants’ confidence, self-esteem, resilience and wellbeing, while promoting an active lifestyle.

St George’s Children’s Hospital

Trust one-to-one mentoring programme has seen significant results across the UK

Working with Alder Hey, Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) and Sheffield Children’s Hospital has seen some tremendous results. At GOSH, 81% of participants noted an increase in their wellbeing (compared with their self-reported rates before beginning mentoring). Meanwhile, 65% reported that their levels of physical activity increased throughout the programme.

Now working with St George’s, Dame Kelly Holmes Trust is proud to be widening the reach of our one-to-one mentoring programme by helping young people realise their full potential with the support of world-class athlete mentors.

The programme at St George’s will also see young people and families be able to access supportive digital content to help with their mentoring journey and beyond.

Young people will be able to choose the athlete mentor they want to work with – all our mentors have overcome huge barriers in their sporting career, and they possess the coaching qualities, communication skills and positive mindsets to effectively support the young person through their own challenges.

Hannah Beharry, a former GB Champion boxer and athlete mentor for the Trust spoke about her work on the mentoring programme, saying:

“Working with young people through the hospital programmes has been incredibly rewarding. Seeing their confidence grow and watching them use the online tools and resources to keep progressing beyond our sessions has been inspiring. Sport taught me how to stay resilient through setbacks, and it’s powerful to see those same lessons help them rebuild strength and belief in themselves.”

Dr Hannah Opstad, General Paediatric Consultant and Lead for Mental Health CEW clinic lead, said: “The Complications of Excess Weight (CEW) service at St George’s are thrilled to have this opportunity to team up with Dame Kelly Holmes Trust, thanks to the grant provided by Novo Nordisk and the St George’s Hospital Charity. This mentorship programme will enable our children and young people to have an incredible and unique chance to speak to these elite athletes and gain from their support and wisdom.  The CEW service works with children and young people from diverse backgrounds who are often facing many challenges, and our goal is to improve their health and wellbeing. Teaming up with the athlete mentors will be a pivotal step towards this for the young people we work with. We are hugely grateful to the athletes for their time and enormously excited to get started.”

This is an exciting time for the Trust with the expansion of the programme to a fourth hospital, which, without funding from Novo Nordisk and St George’s Hospital Charity wouldn’t have been possible. 

NB - Novo Nordisk has provided a grant to Dame Kelly Holmes Trust to support with the provision of the patient mentoring sessions. Novo Nordisk has not been involved in selecting the topic/scope of the mentoring sessions nor has it had any influence on the selection of individuals involved in delivering or receiving the benefits of the funding.