At Meningitis Now, our vision is a future where no-one in the UK loses their life to meningitis and everyone affected gets the support they need to rebuild their lives.
22 people every day are still affected by this terrible and devastating disease.
They will continue to need our aftercare and support, both now and in the future; and until meningitis is eliminated from the UK, it's vital that we continue to raise awareness and fight back against the disease.
Our aim is to make a difference, every day, which reinforces our commitment to saving lives, rebuilding futures and continuing to make a difference in the fight against meningitis.
We have three key objectives:
Fight to defeat meningitis in the UK within a generation;
Reach out to everyone who needs our help, support and information; and
Be recognised as a centre of expertise for aftercare and support
As part of this, we created our Believe & Achieve (B&A) programme designed specifically for 11-25 year-olds who have been impacted by meningitis, directly or indirectly, and aims to support them to reach their goals.
B&A can help young people think about where they are in life, set and achieve goals, overcome challenges, make new friends, learn new skills, celebrate successes and ultimately, give them the confidence to believe in themselves.
We run B&A Days and socials, host weekends away and offer activities and support from a variety of professionals: life coaches, Next Step mentors, peer mentors and counsellors. Believe & Achieve isn't a one-size-fits-all service - it's very much about the young person and what they want.
Everyone has different experiences in life. That includes when they or the person close to them had meningitis, how it affected them and any after-effects or the changes that have happened in their life as a result. That's why the Believe & Achieve team meet with people for a chat. We chat about what they enjoy, what their hobbies and struggles are, and give them the opportunity to talk about what they want to get out of life. Once we've had this chat we discuss the activities and support available.
We offer a variety of different events and services, but it's completely up to the individual, how much they want to get involved. Some people might access a range of things, but others might just want to access one.
Believe & Achieve offers many options, and like our young people, it can't be described in a simple sentence.
What makes Believe & Achieve different?
It’s for those aged 11-25 years
It’s easy to get involved with
The activities and events are free
It's not a one-size-fits-all;
It's part of Meningitis Now and is an enhanced version of our previous services for young people
It's UK-wide
Support from the Pixel fund allows us to continue this life changing work, reaching more young people whose lives have been impacted by this devastating disease.