People who live or work in the Maldon community will be among those able to apply for new grant funding for projects aimed at supporting emotional wellbeing post-pandemic.

Grants of between £100 and £5,000 will be available to successful applicants, whether individuals, groups or organisations with projects or ideas to help people whose emotional wellbeing has been affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The new £100,000 'Emotional Wellbeing: New Opportunities Fund' has been set up by Essex County Council (ECC) to help groups and individuals kickstart their ideas.

Projects can be aimed at providing support for vulnerable children, young people or adults. They must be designed to help people in the community with one of the following:

-Managing and coping with change

-Separation and loss

-Managing and coping with anxiety

-Maintaining healthy relationships

-Staying active

-Education and learning.

There will be grants of between £100 and £5,000 available for applicants to use in the following ways:

-To develop their thinking about how to respond to pandemic impacts

-To build new knowledge

-To develop or try new ways of working post-pandemic

-To enable accessibility and help people reconnect with self, family and communities as they come out of lockdown.

Councillor Louise McKinlay, ECC's Cabinet Member for Children and Families, said: "Although it is good that we can see light at the end of the tunnel, the months ahead are going to be bumpy and uncertain. We know many are struggling with their mental wellbeing and will need extra or different support to get back on track with the social, physical and emotional impacts of the pandemic.

"Our local communities have been fantastic in reaching out to people and a number of ideas have come forward seeking funding support. I hope that by making this money available, we will see the rollout of many initiatives that will help even further.

"If you've been involved in providing support, in receiving it or you've just seen how the pandemic has impacted people around you, you might have some great ideas for new or better ways to help people to recover from the impacts of the pandemic. If so, start developing your ideas now for when the fund opens in April."

The fund will open on 1 April for applications and you can register your interest from 15 March by emailing: [email protected]