Wee Seeds: Edinburgh Leisure invests in staff mental wealth

Two-thirds of parents in the UK are worried about their children’s mental health. And rightly so, as 1 in 6 children in the UK are experiencing mental health problems.

When children are anxious and stressed, parents are often anxious and stressed.

That’s why Edinburgh Leisure is taking a whole family approach to wellbeing and empowering employees to support their children’s mental health.

Employees now have access to the Wee Seeds Mini-Minds Wellbeing Toolbox. It’s a programme of fun and easy mindfulness exercises for children, all about bringing calm and connection to families.


Helen Macfarlane, Director of Wellbeing at Edinburgh Leisure said: Encouraging and supporting people’s health and wellbeing is at the heart of what we do at Edinburgh Leisure. 

“We deliver a range of wellbeing initiatives to support our customers’ and employees’ health and wellbeing. 

!We’re investing in our employees’ mental health.  So, we’re taking a whole family approach to mental health and empowering our employees to support their children by giving them access to the @WeeSeeds Mini-Minds Wellbeing Toolbox. Our staff deserve good mental health and so do their children.”

Wee Seeds Founder, Christina Cran, said: “We believe it’s time for employers to take a whole family approach to mental health.

“All the areas of our life, work, home, and social life, intersect with each other. By working on having a calm family environment at home, we can improve all areas of our lives. Calm families, equal calm staff. That’s why we’re delighted to support Edinburgh Leisure with their staff and their families’ wellbeing.

“Our Mini-Minds Toolbox is designed to help shape the next generation’s mental health. The mental health crisis starts with our children, it’s time we tackle that early.”

Mindfulness can help children:

– Focus more easily and be ready to learn
– Sleep better
– Feel less anxious
– Feel more connected to their family
– Build resilience
– Understand their emotions
– Deal with frustration better
– Become kinder to others and themselves

These are skills children can use today and for the rest of their lives so we are also investing in the future of the workforce.

As a social enterprise, all profits Wee Seeds makes go back into its social impact programme.   

So, by partnering with Wee Seeds, Edinburgh Leisure will also contribute to Wee Seeds’ social impact programme Growing Good, which will support families in poverty or struggling with their mental health to nurture their mental well-being.

To find out more about how Wee Seeds is improving mental health,  visit weeseeds.co.uk

To speak to Wee Seeds, email christina@weeseeds.co.uk, or telephone 07725 316513

Big Issue Invest support for Scottish social ventures

Big Issue Invest (BII) has announced that it has been able to provide four social ventures with half a million pounds of investment.  

The social ventures were chosen as part of this year’s Big Issue Invest programme Power Up Scotland lending scheme that offers investment, advice and support to early-stage social ventures across Scotland.

The four social ventures which have all received funding from the Big Issue Invest scheme are: Ayrshire Women’s HubBrave Strong BeautifulNational Support Network and Edinburgh’s Wee Seeds.  

Big Issue Invest’s Power Up programme, launched in 2017, was opened to organisations across Scotland from October to January this year.

The funding scheme aims to enable organisations to build on the good work they currently do within their communities. Whether it’s buying equipment, hiring new talent, or progressing with business development plans. Successful applicants receive mentoring and business development support to social ventures for the two-year period. 

The programme is funded by partners, abrdnUniversity of EdinburghExperianPlaces for People and the Scottish Government with legal support from Brodies LLP

Danyal Sattar, CEO of Big Issue Invest, said: “It is challenging for social ventures to secure early-stage funding. We are, therefore, so pleased to work with our brilliant partners in Scotland, to support these organisations with the business development expertise alongside the investment, to get through this crucial early stage. 

“The work these social ventures do in their communities is makes a real difference and it has been an honour to help them take this further.”  

Cat Divers, My Pickle CIC Founder and CEO, added: “We exist to help people find support by signposting them to services such as helplines.

“With our volunteers we’ve built the UK’s largest hub of trusted national services for all life challenges from health to housing. We want to see a world where anyone facing crisis can get the help they need, regardless of their circumstances.

“When we joined ‘Power Up’ as My Pickle CIC we were struggling with how to make our work sustainable without introducing adverts or paywalls on mypickle.org. During the programme, with support from the Big Issue Invest team, we identified a new way to reach more people and keep this site free to use.

“Our new not-for-profit, National Support Network (NSN) CIC, helps companies to signpost customers or employees in need by embedding our support database onto their own platforms via subscription. We are very thankful for the support and funding which has made this possible.”

Christina Cran, Founder and CEO of Wee Seeds, said: “Wee Seeds was born pre-pandemic, from my need to help my own son after he showed signs of anxiety following my life-changing diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes.

“But it is even more relevant today, given the impact of Covid on our children’s mental health. We have a tremendous opportunity to bring mindfulness to the early years and shift the mental health agenda for decades to come.

“The loan from Big Issue Invest will enable us to work towards that shift, power up our business ambitions, help future generations deal with the impact of Covid, and plant the seeds of positive mental health in our young people.” 

To read more about the Power Up Scotland Programme visit: 

https://www.bigissue.com/invest/investments/power-up-scotland-programme/