The Mix charity announces new partnership with NOW TV
May 19, 2020
Leading digital youth charity, The Mix, is launching a new partnership with streaming service NOW TV.
The Mix and NOW TV have joined forces to offer vital mental health and emotional wellbeing support and guidance to people under 25. NOW TV’s backing will enable The Mix to expand its services, upscale teams and reach even more of the UK’s 12 million under 25s, especially during a time of national crisis, where health services are stretched or closed.
The new partnership, which has been in development since the end of last year, includes:
- Raising awareness of The Mix, through NOW TV programming – the collaboration will see The Mix using shows and movies on NOW TV, that engage a young audience, as a platform to address and discuss bold and taboo-busting issues. The partnership aims to significantly raise young people’s awareness of how they can access The Mix through NOW TV’s social channels and publicity for key NOW TV programming, should any of the shows’ topics have an impact on their daily lives – especially during a time when TV viewing is on the rise.
- Volunteering for The Mix – the partnership enables The Mix to expand its volunteer programme by more than 20% and conduct close to 2000 additional training sessions, providing essential services to even more young people. Over 2.5 million under 25s rely on The Mix for everything from mental health support via The Mix’s qualified counsellors, to more practical advice, such as how to manage money and interview tips. Since the UK lockdown began, there’s been a 42% increase to The Mix’s helpline, so the expansion to the volunteer base will be vital to support the growing number of young people who need help.
- Fundraising – a series of internal NOW TV events will raise further funds for The Mix, helping to keep their services open for longer hours and enable them to recruit and train more volunteers.
Zoe Bailie, Director of Brand and Development, The Mix said: “Everyone at The Mix is incredibly excited about our partnership with NOW TV and believe this work will empower young people to make a positive change to their future. This is particularly crucial at a time when so many young people are struggling with the impact that lockdown has had on their daily lives.
By capturing an authentic youth voice through our collaboration with NOW TV, we can focus on the issues that are important to young people and use our insights to make a real difference, through cutting edge content. We’re also really looking forward to working on a mental health and volunteering programme with NOW TV staff and commend their dedication to the importance of young people’s mental health.”
Furthermore, The Mix and NOW TV will be working together to help support NOW TV’s employeesproviding expert resources, guidance and support for these staff across a variety of mental health, personal wellbeing and social issues.
Throughout the year, NOW TV will also partner with TV show talent to create bespoke social and online content about their personal, and fictional characters’, mental health challenges, with no subject off limits.
Marina Storti, Managing Director, NOW TV said: “We want to use the NOW TV platform to start important conversations about mental health and well-being, and to raise awareness of the many challenging topics included in our shows. This is especially important at this time with a greater need for young people to feel supported, and with more people staying in and TV viewing on the rise. Supporting our people and our younger customers has always been a top priority for us and we couldn’t wish for a better partner than The Mix to help us make a bigger positive impact on the communities in which we live and work.”