The EnvisionAir Podcast | Personal Wellness, Self Development and Growth Mindset · Nicole Ng Yuen

COMMUNITY: The Power of Giving Back | Andy Reid, Founder of Buddy Up Charity

·48 min·3 clips

CAMHS has a two-year waiting list, and Buddy Up fills the lower-level gap before problems escalate.

1. The EnvisionAir Podcast episode on community and giving back centers on Andy Reid and Buddy Up Charity. 2. Andy Reid is the founder of Buddy Up Charity, and he says he has worked in youth work since leaving school at 16. 3. The episode asks what motivated Andy to start Buddy Up and how the charity helps young people in schools. 4. Andy says his previous youth-work organization shut down because it lost funding during COVID, even though the need among young people remained. 5. He says he spent about a month researching how to set up a charity and then roughly six to nine months getting charity status. 6. Andy describes Buddy Up as a mentoring charity that works in schools, pupil referral units, short stay schools, care homes, and youth clubs. 7. He says the charity offers one-on-one mentoring once a week for about 10 weeks, usually for an hour at a time. 8. Andy says the mentors are youth workers, not mental health professionals, psychologists, or trauma therapists. 9. He says the sessions focus on coping mechanisms, anxieties, anger issues, and other immediate struggles young people face. 10. Andy says Buddy Up expected to support 50 students in its first year and is now supporting more than 10 times that number locally. 11. He says young people's anxiety has risen after COVID, with pressure from exams, the cost of living, and other stressors. 12. Andy says CAMHS, the service for young people's mental health, had a two-year waiting list the last time he checked. 13. He says Buddy Up fills a lower-level support gap before young people's problems escalate or need more specialist help. 14. Andy says funding is still a weekly battle, and he spends about a day each week finding money to keep the charity running. 15. He says grants from the National Lottery, Comic Relief, Surrey bodies, Tesco schemes, and local supermarkets help pay for wages, travel, and admin. 16. Andy says the most rewarding feedback comes in small changes, like improved attendance and fewer violent incidents in school. 17. He says one student moved from 27 missed days to 100% attendance, and another stopped lashing out in school after mentoring. 18. The interview style is open and practical, with detailed answers about charity setup, safeguarding, trustees, and day-to-day operations. 19. People interested in youth work, school mentoring, or starting a charity for young people would likely value this episode. 20. People looking for a fast entertainment episode or a story with heavy drama may skip it.

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