NE Charity Awards 2025, Maya Patterson

Youth Social Action / Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / January 8th, 2025

NE Charity Awards 2025, Maya Patterson

One of our fabulous volunteers, Maya Patterson achieved the Highly Commended Award at the NE Charity Awards in September 2025, for her voluntary work with Building Self-Belief CIO. She was recognised as a Young Charity Champion of the year for her major contribution to Building Self-Belief, in particular for her support with the youth clubs and at Benfieldside Community Garden. Well done Maya, this is very well deserved!

Youth Social Action / February 10th, 2025

Aspirations and Future Planning / February 10th, 2025

Global Opportunities for Young People to Extend your Life Experiences

There are many opportunities to extend your life experiences outside of education or work, including travelling or working abroad. These opportunities are perfect for young people to learn new skills, meet new people and gain once in a lifetime experiences. For people who leave school and are unsure about what they want to do next, these experiences can be useful to figure out what you are interested in and gain volunteer or work experience which is a wonderful asset to your CV.

Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / December 4th, 2023

Huge Thank You to Sunderland Counselling Service for Building Self Belief’s Award

I was delighted to be a guest at Sunderland Counselling Services AGM on 30th November 2023 and help them celebrate their 40th anniversary. As CEO of Building Self-Belief, it was a great opportunity to see the timeline of how SCS has developed and evolved over the past 40 years.

Know Your Neighbourhood Project / May 2nd, 2024

Benfieldside Community Garden / May 2nd, 2024

Good to Grow 2024

Good to Grow 2024 came at a perfect time for our projects at Benfieldside Community Garden. We have done a huge amount of work to clear the site, after years of neglect, and in April we found ourselves ready to plant.