Battle Scars
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    • Onward House - the journey

News

14 October 2024
Thanks to everyone who came to our AGM! And despite the cringing when we announced we'd do a SWOT analysis together, you all dove into it with unexpected energy!
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2 October 2024
Thank you White Rose Shopping Centre for the £1,000 donation on top of all the other support!
Summer 2024
NEW GROUPS at Onward House:
18+ daytime group with social time every Thursday
50+ daytime group with social time every other Friday from 27 September
Friends & Family evening group every other Wednesday from 11 September
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27 July 2024
Thank you National Lottery and players for awarding us a £20,000 grant over two years to support our Volunteer Development Programme through the Awards 4 All scheme
18 July 2024
Thank you Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust for the totally unexpected £3,000 grant! Very grateful!
15 July 2024
Onward House and the Onward Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub got their signs up! Exciting times for Battle Scars! Doors opening on July 17th at 11am for our first group at our new premises.
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22 June 2024
Huge thank you to the Lancashire Mead Company for supporting us by raising £1,625 and spreading the word! 

21 June 2024 
Press release by Garfield Weston and Pilotlight - 3 June 2024:

Leeds-based charity Battle Scars, has been awarded a team of business experts and funding to tackle social and environmental challenges
Battle Scars is a 100% survivor led and run charity supporting anyone affected by self-harm. It offers support to people of all ages and genders by providing varied support and free resources, including a journal for young people aged 10-17 who want to manage their self-harm.
Battle Scars has had the impact of its current services and future ambitions recognised with its selection as a 2024 Weston Charity Awards winner.
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The award gives the charity the chance to invest in its future with strategic planning support from a dedicated team of four business experts, thanks to pro bono charity Pilotlight, and a core grant of £6,500 from the Garfield Weston Foundation.
Battle Scars was chosen from over 180 applicants, all of which are frontline charities delivering youth, welfare, community or environment services in the North of England, the Midlands and Wales.
Battle Scars’ founder and CEO, Jenny Groves said:
“We are proud that Battle Scars has been selected from among other outstanding charitable organisations who were equally worthy of such recognition. The award couldn’t have come at a better time as Battle Scars currently moves into its first-ever Head Quarters, where we are setting up a brand-new mental health and wellbeing hub in south Leeds. We are looking forward to working with other third sector partners to provide a one-stop hub of support and information for both service-users and professionals. This award will give Battle Scars the security to reinforce our team’s professional development, give opportunity to invest in our future with strategic planning support from dedicated business experts, creating new opportunities to enhance the services we offer to people of all ages who are affected by self-harm, and ensure our team of volunteers continue to receive guidance and direction for their continued knowledge-building and understanding within their roles.”
In congratulating Battle Scars, Sophia Weston, Deputy Chair of Trustees at Garfield Weston Foundation said:
“In today’s world, the challenges facing communities are more complex than ever. We’re proud to partner with Pilotlight to support the 24 outstanding charities selected, who are finding innovative ways to combat issues ranging from rising inequality to threats to our natural environment.”
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Ed Mayo, Chief Executive of Pilotlight, the charity which is connecting Battle Scars with a team of coaches drawn from a range of businesses and other organisations said:
“The Weston Charity Awards provide a lifeline to smaller charities on the frontlines of changing social and environmental needs. Pilotlight is excited to offer our expertise in helping these charities develop strategic plans for the future, ensuring they can maximise their impact and navigate uncertainty.”
7 May 2024
We're grateful for the £997 grant from One Stop Community Partnership to help with running costs of our adult and our 16-25s groups at the Lovell Park Hub in Little London, Leeds. 
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2 May 2024
Our CEO, Jenny Groves, received a White Rose Community Award for her contributions and efforts by the White Rose Shopping Centre management following nominations. Also gifted a jar of honey from the centre's honey bees!
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2 May 2024
Thank you BW Legal employees for your fundraising efforts raising £852.20 for us!
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26 April 2024
We are delighted to receive the following grants and very grateful to the funders:
  • Leeds Community Foundation for a transforming mental health grant of £19,995 for the expansion of our face-to-face support groups in Leeds
  • ​The Foyle Foundation for a £8,200 grant supporting out virtual support groups
  • ​The Brelms Trust for a 3-year grant of £17,400 supporting us with our new hub's expenses
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5 February, 2024
A big thank you to the Masonic Charitable Foundation for matching the 2,500 grant we received from the West Riding Masonic Charities Ltd - thank you so much for the support!
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5 February, 2024
A big thank you to Landsec Futures for supporting us with a £2,000 grant!
23 November, 2023
A big thank you to the Rank Foundation for the £1,500 grant towards setting up the Onward Mental Health Hub and Battle Scars new premises!
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8 November, 2023
A huge thank you to the Garfield Weston Foundation for the £15,000 grant to strengthen our infrastructure! 
22 October, 2023
A big thank you to the Screwfix Foundation for a £5,000 grant towards the Onward Mental Health Hub and Battle Scars new premises!
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22 October, 2023
Thank you Co-op for picking our 16-25s group as one of your causes!
Battle Scars AGM 20 July 2023
Please RSVP by emailing the CEO 
If you wish to attend in person, we will send you directions. Parking available and easily accessible by public transport. 
​Or please ask us for the Zoom link
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Poster about the AGM saying you're invited
21 May, 2023
Now available to order: Discovery Journal, free workbook for 10-17 year olds who self-harm. Click on picture for more information
The spiral bound Discovery journal workbook with a picture of a path leading to trees and hills
The badge we use about our registration with the Scottish Charity Regulator is blue with our charity number
11 April, 2023
As of today, we're also a registered charity in Scotland, number SC052466
6 April, 2023
Big thank you to the Albert Hunt Trust for supporting us with a £1,500 grant for our new peer support project in local prisons. 
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6  February, 2023
Battle Scars 5th birthday banner is black with our logo and balloons
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2 January, 2023
Big thank you to the Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust for supporting us with a £3,000 grant
5 December, 2022
Thank you to the Leeds Convalescent Society for supporting us with a £250 grant
The Allen Lane Foundation logo
10 November, 2022
Big thank you to the Allen Lane Foundation for supporting us with a £7,228 grant
14 October, 2022 & update 28 November, 2022
New raffle! £1 per ticket. For a chance to win this hand-carved phoenix, click on image. 
Congratulations to Rebecca W for being the lucky winner! And thank you to everyone who took part!
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World mental health logo for this year with a green ribbon
10 October, 2022
97 people attended our virtual Myths & Realities about Self-harm session on World Mental Health Day. Next session: December 6th, 1-2. Join our mailing list to be notified when bookings open. 
1 October, 2022
It is with great sadness that we're announcing the death of our trustee and friend, Craig Hughes, who passed away peacefully on Wednesday only a few months after his wife, Carol. They were both dedicated to the Battle Scars work.
Our thoughts are with their family.
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13 September, 2022
Thank you for the support and the £500 donation!

26 June, 2022
Raising funds for our young people's workbook/journal, an age appropriate version of our addiction workbook.
You can find us at the MunroeK event on Thursday 30th who are helping us fundraise.

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24 June, 2022
It was a pleasure talking to the Leeds CAMHS crisis team today. I hope I was able to provide them with some insights and that my suggestions and Battle Scars resources will be useful to them and the young people they support. Thank you for inviting me to meet your team!

13 June, 2022
Thank you Arnold Clark for the £1,000 grant towards the kids' workbooks
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11 June, 2022
Thank you Munroe K for your support and generosity

10 June, 2022
Thank you DWF Foundation for the £1,500 grant towards printing costs of the kids self-harm workbook (available towards the end of 2022)
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10 May, 2022
Thank you Randal Charitable Foundation for the £4,050 grant to fund the 16-25s peer support group 

22 April, 2022
Thank you Focus Foundation for the £2,225 grant to print 300 self-harm addiction workbooks
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7 April, 2022
Thank you for believing in us Tudor Trust and for ensuring we can keep on growing and thriving

10 March, 2022
Overjoyed to be the winners of the Leeds Compassionate City Awards for Health & Wellbeing!
Leeds Compassionate City Awards Health Wellbeing category winner
8 March, 2022
Thank you Lethersellers' Company Charitable Fund for the £2,500 grant.
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1 March, 2022
Free virtual awareness event and radio interviews are on today's calendar!

18 February, 2022
Thank you George A Moore Foundation for the £1,000 grant. 
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CONGRATULATIONS Amanda G for winning the raffle!


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6 February, 2022

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19 January, 2022
Somerset Talking Café chat with Jenny Groves the Battle Scars founder and CEO
(click on image to watch)

11 January, 2022
Interview with the Battle Scars CEO, Jenny Groves, on BBC Radio Leeds. You can listen to it by clicking on the images (the interview was at 8.20 for 10 minutes)
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BBC Radio Leeds interview Battle Scars

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16 December, 2021
Once again, a massive thank you to the Tudor Trust for their ongoing support and another £90,000 3-year grant!

October, 2021
Launch of our new service FRESH (professional referrals only) 
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September, 2021
Launch of our new weekly 16-25's group in Leeds.

June 26th, 2021
Interview with the Battle Scars CEO, Jenny Groves, on GFM Radio (Gloucester). You can listen to it by clicking on the image (it's about 20 minutes long after the news and 1 song). 
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June 27th, 2021
​NEW VIRTUAL PEER SUPPORT GROUP 
starting Thursday 15th July 2021, 6.30-7.30 pm (all our virtual groups run every 2 weeks)
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June 11th, 2021
Interview with the Battle Scars CEO, Jenny Groves, on BCB Radio (Bradford) [no longer available to listen]

June 8th, 2021
Well done to 7 new and existing volunteers for completing the virtual group facilitator course! New groups coming soon!
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June 2021
​The paid Battle Scars team has grown a lot over the last couple of months: from one to six! A big, warm welcome to our new employees working on various projects!

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April 16th 2021
We are delighted to have been awarded £23,400 to cover costs for 2 new Leeds-specific projects! Watch this space for more information as we set them up. 

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March 29th 2021
Thank you to the Charles & Elsie Sykes Trust for supporting our new project to develop self-harm support for young people by awarding us £2,500

January 22nd, 2021
Due to demand we're launching 2 more adult peer support group in February bringing them to a total of 5 every 2 weeks.  
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January 12th, 2021
Extremely happy to receive a £10,000 grant by the National Lottery's Awards For All!

December 7th, 2020
Hard copy or PDF version now available to order
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November 20th, 2020
The 12-step self-harm addiction workbooks just arrived! 

August 11th, 2020
Congratulations to Julia B for being the winner of the hand carved seashell raffle. 

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June 10th, 2020
Congratulations to Irene R for being the winner of our first raffle. The prize was this hand carved bear cub. 

March 16th, 2020
A big thank you to the Wharfedale Foundation for awarding us a grant to print and post more crisis cards. Very grateful!

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January 3rd, 2020
A huge thank you to the Brelms Trust for awarding us funding for the next three years.
We're very grateful for your support!



December 13th, 2019
This year we're part of a Charity Tree Christmas Festival. Our tree is up in the St. Paul's Church in Morley (Kings Street, LS27 9ES).
The festival is open:
Fri 13th: 11 am - 3 pm & 5 pm - 7 pm
Sat 14th: 11 am - 5 pm
Sun 15th: 12 noon - 3 pm - Carols Amongst the Trees
Mon 16th: 11 am - 3 pm & 5 pm - 7 pm
Please visit the festival, it's an awareness raising and fundraising event.
Thank you and a special big thank you to everybody who made/donated decs and to the two volunteers who put it up, your efforts are very much appreciated



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October 11th, 2019
We're very proud to have been awarded the Leeds Volunteering Kitemark with excellent feedback on our application, policies, procedures and ethos. Also very grateful to our volunteers putting up with the CEO/volunteer manager learning as she goes!  


October 10th, 2019 - World Mental Health Day
A short video on stress, thanks to our volunteer (Captured By Cass) is our on-line contribution. Also running stalls at Leeds City College (Quarry Hill), Notre Dame 6th Form College and Leeds Becketts University (@ the Gateway, Leslie Silver Building) where we're also running a workshop. 


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July 21st, 2019
The amazing 2019 NCS team walked for 7 hours around Wakefield fundraising and spreading the word! What a fab idea to do it dressed as knights, apparently with a damsel in distress! We cannot thank them enough for picking our charity!


July 19th, 2019
We're very grateful to the Leeds Mates and Dates group for raising £233 for us! 

April 5th, 2019
A huge thank you to the Trelix Charitable Trust for their £1,000 donation! Very much appreciated!

January 8th, 2019
Our crisis card, stand and poster are now available to order by any UK organisation and service (minimum 10). Individual cards are only available to our service users via our groups. If you're out of Leeds and only want one card, please ask a professional to place an order. If you are based in Ireland please contact us (we may be able to provide certain organisations and services with them if mainly working on mental health).

The card needs to be filled in when calm and can be presented to A&E staff, police, paramedics, crisis services staff, mental health professionals etc.  
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October 5th, 2018
Our crisis card is now available to order by all Leeds organisations and services (including schools) and to all our service users via our groups. The card needs to be filled in when calm and can be presented to A&E staff, police, paramedics etc. and will be considered by the Leeds Crisis team (read it out to them) and ALPS (Acute Liaison Psychiatric Service). 

This is the trial run which is why we can only send it out to organisations in Leeds but we're hoping to make the cards available nationally in the near future. 
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July 3rd, 2018
A huge thank you to the Allen Lane Foundation for awarding us a £3,000 grant. Really appreciated!​

June 4th, 2018
Many thanks to the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board staff for raising £100 for us during mental health awareness week! 
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June 1st, 2018
Many thanks to the George A Moore Foundation for their grant of £1,000 following our application. Very much appreciated!​

April 28th, 2018
Thank you Leodis Pagan Circle for all the hard work you put in to raise this amount for us! We'll make full use of every penny to reflect your efforts! 
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March 29th, 2018
Awarded £10,000 by the Big Lottery Fund  - Awards For All for our Volunteer Development Programme. 
If you're interested in volunteering with us please click here.
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March 16th, 2018
Dublin self-harm awareness conference

Fantastic self-harm conference yesterday in Dublin. Thanks 
Pieta House, Preventing Suicide and Self Harm and St. Patrick's Mental Health Services for organising it and especially for inviting me. Thank you for welcoming me, attending my workshops and even inviting me to join you on the end of the day panel! A special thanks to Cat Hughes for being very aware of my mental needs and looking after me. Also a big thank you to the 250 people who attended. It's great to see so many people wanting to learn and help.​
Let's all work together and break down the stigma! (Jenny Groves, far left)

February 6th, 2018
Battle Scars is now a registered charity!
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Battle scars logo
Registered charity in England & Wales No 1177020 
​Registered charity in Scotland No SC052466

Website designed by Battle Scars
Contact us
Battle Scars
Onward Mental Health & Wellbeing Hub
Onward House
Millshaw Park Way
Leeds LS11 0LS
​​email: [email protected]
for enquiries about room hire/rental: [email protected]

​Tel (information & admin line only): 07410 380747 - office hours
Battle Scars Policies 
​
Privacy Principles
Funded by:
Leeds Compassionate City Awards Health Wellbeing category winner
Battle Scars Leeds Volunteering Kitemark
charity excellence framework quality mark
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​​Website by Battle Scars
  • Home
    • About us >
      • Our vision, mission & values
      • News
      • Our reports
    • Definition of self-harm
    • Support us >
      • Become a Battle Scars trustee
      • AGM 2025
      • Membership
      • Volunteer
      • Feedback about services
      • Donations
      • Wristbands
      • Social media
    • Contact us
  • I self-harm
    • Virtual support groups UK 18+
    • F2F support groups Leeds adults >
      • Daytime f2f group 18+
      • Evening f2f group 18+
      • Daytime f2f group 50+
      • Group posters & map
    • 16-25s support group Leeds
    • FRESH phone contact
    • Under 16's
    • Workbook for 10-17 year-olds
    • Facebook support group worldwide
    • Addiction programme
    • Resources & more >
      • Understanding s/h
      • Managing s/h
      • Self-awareness
      • Videos & interviews
      • Blogs
      • Gallery
    • Order form - crisis cards etc.
  • I'm family/friend
    • Virtual F&F support group UK
    • F2F support group Leeds family
    • Dos & don'ts
    • FRESH phone service
  • I'm a professional
    • Want to know more about Battle Scars?
    • Work with young people
    • FRESH phone service
    • Support for foster carers
    • Addiction workbook - PDF for professionals
    • How to write a self-harm policy
    • Join the mailing list
    • Downloads
  • Training
    • Self-Harm training
    • Eating disorders training
    • Self-harm in the Workplace
    • Autism, Self-harm & Mental Health
  • Space for hire/rent
    • Rooms for day hire
    • Rooms & desk space for lease
    • Onward House - the journey