Empowering youth to proactively manage their mental wellbeing
Local grant programs
Our local grant programs initiative provides practical support and funding to help Zurich business units initiate long-term, strategic relationships with local community organizations. Read more on each program below.
The impact figures have been rounded to the nearest hundred.
Asia Pacific
Australia - Helping youth navigate life's challenges through mentoring
Implementation partner: Raise Foundation
Grant duration: 5 years
Projected impact: 25,000 people
This grant supports youth mental wellbeing through high school mentoring and capacity building, in collaboration with the Raise Foundation.
After a successful three-year collaboration, we have renewed our commitment to enabling the Raise Foundation to expand their work and fulfil their ambition of having their mentoring program available in every public high school in the country by 2024.
Australia - Enabling youth to proactively manage their mental wellbeing
Implementation partner: Tackle Your Feelings
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 355,000 people
This is a free mental health training program for community AFL coaches, committee members, and support staff. It's delivered by a local psychologist and aims to help participants gain the tools to understand, recognize, and respond to signs of mental ill-health in their players.
Tackle Your Feelings focuses on reducing stigma and supporting a mentally healthy community, raising awareness of mental health issues, and changing behavior toward actions associated with mental health.
Hong Kong - Changing the picture on mental wellbeing for youth
Implementation partner: Mental Health Association of HK (MHAHK)
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 191,000 people
An innovative program using experiential technology and the power of community to change attitudes and behaviors and build a supportive ecosystem of teachers and parents.
The program will be delivered in Chinese and English, expecting to reach 58% of secondary schools in Hong Kong. A well-built evaluation process will demonstrate effectiveness. Combined with MHAHK's existing relationships at institutional level, this is the basis for further scaling and change.
New Zealand - A school-wide approach to mental health education
Implementation partner: Sir John Kirwan Foundation, Zurich New Zealand
Grant duration: 2 years
Projected impact: 55,300
A two-year grant to improve the mental health and wellbeing of New Zealand’s primary and high school students with Sir John Kirwan Foundation and Zurich New Zealand.
This grant supports Mitey, a school-wide approach to mental health education, bringing teachers, students and communities together around a common goal – mentally thriving children. Mitey is being rolled out to schools in Auckland and is set to go nationwide reaching thousands of students and positively impacting the lives of tens of thousands of people (teachers, students and their families).
Europe, Middle East, and Africa
Ireland - Inspiring youth to take control of their mental wellbeing
Implementation partner: Tackle Your Feelings, Rugby Players Ireland, Zurich Ireland
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 270,000 people
A mental health and wellbeing campaign, which supports proactively looking after your mental wellbeing. With resources available covering happiness, optimism and resilience.
This campaign is run in collaboration with Zurich Insurance Plc in Ireland and Rugby Players Ireland.
With some of Ireland’s sporting heroes leading the way, we want to inspire people to take control and be more proactive in looking after their mental well-being, so that issues are tackled before they hit crisis stage.
Ireland - Supporting innovative solutions across a full spectrum of mental health initiatives
Implementation partner: Rethink Ireland, Health Service Executive
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 106,800 people
This three year fund - the Headstart Fund 0 will support organizations and projects working within the mental wellbeing space.
The fund will work to build the capacity and resilience of not-for-profit organizations, by providing cash grants and capacity-building support to social innovations that have proof of impact, a desire to scale, and who are innovatively working to enhance, sustain and/or intervene in the mental health of young people living in Ireland.
Isle of Man - Providing mental wellbeing education, prevention and transformative early intervention
Implementation partner: Isle Listen
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 85,000 people
A three-year grant to provide mental wellbeing education, prevention and transformative early intervention in collaboration with Isle Listen.
The “Isle Listen” program is raising awareness about wellbeing in schools, providing support and training to both families and professionals, as well as one-to-one sessions for those in the most need. Through this program, we have the ambition to reach out to the entire school and college population of the Isle of Man – approximately 15,000 students and over 1,000 people working within the education sector – as well as supporting employers and delivering community-wide campaigns and resources.
This program has the potential to transform mental health awareness and early intervention across the island, especially given the size of the population and its interconnectedness. We hope to see up to 85,000 people positively impacted by the program.
Portugal - Supporting students, teachers and families in developing emotional regulation skills
Implementation partner: EPIS
Grant duration: 4 years
Projected impact: 16,500 people
This program aims to better prepare young people by developing emotional regulation skills that contribute to more mentally balanced lifestyles. With more than 100 public schools enrolled in the launch phase, the program will support over 42,000 students, aged between 12 and 15 years, about 800 teachers and over 2,000 families.
Spain - Inspiring cultural change to make mental wellbeing for young people a priority
Implementation Partner: Sant Joan de Déu, Zurich Spain
Grant duration: 3.5 years
Projected impact: 575,000 people
"Henka" which means ‘transformation’ in Japanese is an inclusive and universal project aimed at the entire educational community and puts adolescents at the centre. It is an initiative that will focus its actions on the prevention and promotion of emotional well-being in young people between 12 and 16 years old. In addition, it will promote social awareness so that the mental health of young people is a priority in the educational environment.
The objective of Henka, is for young people to face adversity in a healthy way, with tools that promote the development of resilience capacities, as a protective factor. This reduces both the risk of suffering from a mental health disorder and the negative impact of many problems that negatively affect the wellbeing of adolescents.
Together with Hospital St. Joan de Deu and Zurich Spain, we aim to empower young people to be resilient in the face of adversity. Henka focuses on educational and family environments with the goal of inspire a cultural change in society, so that the emotional wellbeing of young people becomes a priority.
Latin America
Argentina - Transforming the lives of trauma injured people
Implementation partner: Fundación Trauma Prevención Y Mejora De La Atención De La Enfermedad Trauma
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 40,000 people
A three-year grant to transform the lives of trauma injured people, in collaboration with the Fundación Trauma Prevención Y Mejora De La Atención De La Enfermedad Trauma.
This program aims to up-skill 500 doctors and thousands of Zurich’s employees and distributors and create positive outcomes for more than 10,000 people per year. It will help to provide quality information and developing trauma systems, according to international standards, and alongside the Argentinian Government.
Brazil - Promoting positive mental health through emotional literacy programs
Implementation partner: Anima Institute
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 318,000 people
Emotional literacy strongly contributes to self-regulation and wellbeing and positively impacts mental health. Through a combination of classes, teacher training and mentoring, this project will enable students to develop their emotional skills in dealing with stressful or problematic situations in life.
In addition, this program will offer open content and training courses on formative pathways for emotional literacy, self-care, self-regulation, promoting wellbeing and breaking the taboo on mental health.
North America and Bermuda
Canada -Supporting youth mental health promotion, advocacy and self-determination
Implementation partner: Junior Achievement Canada
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 230,600 people
United States - Using the transformative nature of sports to improve mental wellbeing
Implementation partner: Beyond Sport, Zurich North America
Grant duration: 3 years
Projected impact: 702,900 people
“Head in the Game” (HITG) is a multi-year collaboration between the Z Zurich Foundation, Beyond Sport and Zurich North America. This initiative aims to use the transformative nature of sports to positively impact the mental wellbeing of hundreds of thousands of adolescents in the US.
HITG will take a whole-systems approach on youth mental wellbeing. It will provide resources and training on prevention and promotion and engage with communities at neighbourhood, city, and state levels. There will be a special focus on those who identify as Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) and LGBTQ+ communities.
Find out more about the award-winning Tackle Your Feelings Program
Neville Jetta, Tackle Your Feelings ambassadorAustralia
Tackle Your Feelings is a mental well-being training program offered to community AFL clubs in urban, rural and remote areas across Australia, supporting players and their families, coaches and club volunteers. The genius of Tackle Your Feelings is that it recognizes the unique role that community coaches and football clubs play in improving the well-being and social cohesiveness of local communities.
This grassroots program assists Australians with improving their ability to understand, recognize and manage signs of poor mental health.
The training is developed and delivered by accredited psychologists and was modelled on mental health training provided at professional AFL clubs. It supports de-stigmatization and greater awareness around mental health issues, and behavioral change.
This campaign is run in collaboration with the Australian Football League’s (AFL) Players’ and Coaches’ Associations and Zurich Financial Services Australia LTD.
Ireland
Tackle Your Feelings is a mental health and wellbeing campaign, which supports proactively looking after your mental wellbeing. With resources available covering happiness, optimism and resilience, join our community in taking control of your mental wellbeing.
With some of Ireland’s sporting heroes leading the way, we want to inspire people to take control and be more proactive in looking after their mental well-being, so that issues are tackled before they hit crisis stage.
The Irish program has inspired other Zurich business units, like in Australia. This is a first for the Z Zurich Foundation – taking a successful program it has invested in from one country and transferring it with funding to another.
Eimear Considine, Tackle Your Feelings ambassador