How we work

Blue Spirit is the hub of the sailing activities we provide. 

Working closely with our partners enables us to get young people access to the open spaces which can improve their mental health.  On board they learn how to work in a team, push their limits and develop resilience.

Blue Spirit works in partnership with organisations that offer sailing experiences to young people. These organisations – Ocean Youth Trust North (OYTN) in North Shields, Cirdan Sailing Trust and Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club – have a wealth of experience in providing safe and exhilarating sailing experiences to a wide range of people.

We also partner with community groups and charities who are well-placed to identify and refer young people who would benefit from this kind of experience. This fund is not limited to people suffering from mental health issues, but is for any young person who would not normally be able to access this kind of experience and who would benefit from enhanced wellbeing, gaining self-confidence or an opportunity to have time for themselves in nature.

Small grassroots organisations already spend a lot of time fundraising for their core costs and their activities and it may not occur to them that they could afford an activity like sailing or that bursaries are available. Because we raise the funds, book the sailing experiences and liaise with the community groups or referrers working with young people, we make the process a lot easier for groups who would otherwise have to try to work it out themselves.  At the same time, we not only make sailing experiences affordable to youth groups, we also help them discover a previously unknown opportunity.

We use the feedback we receive to help improve our process and the experience for young people and to prove the benefit of what we do to the people who fund us.