Founded in 2021 in response to the growing crisis of children at risk of self-harm and suicide across Medway, The Life Matters was established to provide early, ethical, and prevention-focused intervention for vulnerable young people. Since launching, the charity has supported around 60 children through three structured cohorts, offering specialist guidance, safe therapeutic spaces, and timely support to those often struggling in silence.

Our 10-week A Child’s Voice programme sits at the heart of this work. Co-designed with the charity’s second cohort of participants, the model embeds lived experience directly into its structure. Through meaningful and structured participation, young people helped shape the programme’s language, content, delivery style, and safeguarding framework. Their insight ensures the approach is not only clinically informed, but genuinely child-centred, trauma-aware, and responsive to the realities of emotional distress.

A Child’s Voice bridges clinical research with frontline social work practice. It is believed to be the only UK-based programme integrating evidence-informed clinical insight, frontline social practice, and lived experience in this way — creating a prevention model rooted in both research and real-world application.

The Life Matters has been recognised by BBC Radio Kent through Making A Difference in The Community and nominated for the Pride in Medway Awards 2026, reflecting the significance of this work within the local community.

Programme Evaluation

We evaluate our programmes using structured outcome measures aligned with Child Outcomes Research Consortium methods. This includes wellbeing scales, goal-based outcomes, and participant feedback collected before and after engagement to measure changes in confidence, wellbeing, and social connection.

Ethical evaluation is embedded within each cohort to monitor safety, effectiveness, and continuous improvement. Outcomes from the most recent cohort of 20 children demonstrate measurable and meaningful change within the structured intervention period:

• 95% reduction in reported self-harm and suicidal thoughts
• No suicide attempts recorded during the programme period

Across all three cohorts delivered to date, no suicide attempts have been recorded during active programme participation. To date, over 60 children have been directly supported, extending guidance and reassurance to more than 180 family members — strengthening protective factors across the wider Medway community.

These findings reflect changes observed during programme delivery and are part of our ongoing commitment to transparent evaluation, safeguarding excellence, and responsible reporting. By combining evidence-based practice with youth voice and community delivery, The Life Matters is not only supporting vulnerable children — it is helping to prevent crisis, strengthen families, and create safer futures.

Every child’s life matters.