Benenden Charitable Trust donation funds women's wellbeing services in York.

The healthcare provider's 'Community Fund' awarded almost £4,000 to Kyra Women’s Project.

02 July 2025, by Megan Anderson.

Benenden Charitable Trust, a charity and supporting arm of Benenden Health, has awarded York-based women's support services Kyra Women's Project, £3,992 from its ‘Community Fund' programme.

The 'Community Fund', a long-standing initiative of Benenden Health’s wider Environmental, Social and Governance activity, aims to support health and wellbeing-related community projects with a one-off monetary award.

Kyra Women's Project used the award to pay for a series of wellbeing sessions for women in York, including mindfulness courses, sound meditation sessions and loss support groups.

92% of the women who attended the courses said they were 'very good' and 77% said they were 'very useful'. One of the women who attended the course shared, '"The mindfulness course at Kyra has come along at just the right time for me.

"I have always had a difficult time trying to keep my mental health at a manageable level, often having hard, un-functioning periods of time rather than easy, getting along ‘ok days’.

"Mindfulness is a perfect fit for me, aligning with what I need and want my daily life to look like."

Molly Charnock, Programme Lead at Kyra Women’s Project added, “It's been an absolute privilege, as always, to hold these sessions for the members and I am very grateful to be a part of Kyra's offerings and for all the support I have received from Benenden Charitable Trust in supporting our members.”

"I'm really pleased with how the projects have gone. We have had really positive feedback from members, and it is rewarding to be able to give them a space to be able to understand their emotions and hear other members' journeys.

"Our members all have complex histories of different losses, and this project has given us the opportunity to develop knowledge-led courses to provide both a safe space and a place to digest loss."

Dr Cheryl Lythgoe, Head of Benenden Charitable Trust states, "We are so proud to have been part of the honourable work that Kyra Women's Project provides to women across York and hear first-hand the impact the new courses gave to its attending members.

"At Benenden Health, we believe we are not only responsible for supporting our member’s health and wellbeing needs, but that of our community outside membership. Our long running ‘Community Fund’ lends itself perfectly to this belief and we thank community groups such as Kyra for being brave and reaching out on behalf of their own members."

Benenden Charitable Trust's monetary award supported a total of 104 women across York this Spring. More information about the Benenden's Charitable Trust can be found here.