Bristol law firm Barcan+Kirby’s community fund, which it set up last year to help community groups in the areas where it has offices, has donated funds to a Thornbury charity that helps children with additional needs and their families.
The £300 has gone to JIGSAW’s Project 5 Wellbeing and Resilience Programme for equipment and resources. 
JIGSAW, which funds a SEN-sory lending library, holiday activities, young volunteers service and provide training to families and professionals, set up Project 5 as a support programme with a journal that helps young people who are struggling with anxiety and mental health issues.
The journal uses mental health charity Mind’s ‘Five Ways to Wellbeing’ to help develop resilience and coping skills. JIGSAW have been delivering this successful programme to local schools and other organisations such as Bristol Autism Project and in 2019 held a sell-out Project 5 conference focusing on mental health issues in young people for parents and professionals.
JIGSAW CEO Tor Goodman said: “Over the last few years we have been getting an increasing number of families and schools approaching us for support for young people struggling with anxiety and other mental health issues.
“We were approached to develop a programme to support these young people and have since delivered this to many young people in the area and their parents.
“The funding we have kindly received from Barcan+Kirby has been used to set up a box of resources that schools can borrow from our lending library for use when they are delivering the programme.
“This will make the programme much more affordable for schools and more interactive for the young people taking part. We are very grateful for the support provided by the team at Barcan+Kirby, particularly helping with us securing our new venue in Thornbury.” 
Barcan+Kirby’s community fund was set up in February last year with community groups and individuals invited to apply for up to £300 in support of existing programmes or to kick-start new projects such as sports teams, drama and the arts and events.
The fund, which is now closed, was aimed at individuals and community groups based the postcodes of BS1 (city centre), BS3 (Bedminster), BS7 (Bishopston), BS8 (Clifton), BS15 (Kingswood) and BS35 (Thornbury).
Barcan+Kirby managing partner Bill Willcocks said: “We are really proud to provide funds to JIGSAW Thornbury. The Project 5 is a great initiative to assist young people and their families with anxiety, which has been needed more in the last year.
“Being an active supporter of the communities in which we operate is an important part of who we are as local high street solicitors. We strive to bring out the best in not just our staff, but also in the communities that we serve around Bristol.”
JIGSAW was launched in 2013 and supports more than 600 families who have children or young people with additional needs and/or disabilities, including those who may not yet have a diagnosis. These may be medical, physical, educational or mental health difficulties.
Pictured, top, from left: JIGSAW CEO Tor Goodman Hattie Clayton Chair of Trustees and Kathryn Smith of Barcan+Kirby outside the firm’s Thornbury office. Above: The Project 5 resources bought using Barcan+Kirby’s community fund
