Gift Melva to a school of your choice

Businesses and individuals can sponsor MELVA and give the gift of mental health education through storytelling to their chosen primary school settings for the next academic year.

A selection of Melva images from the film and game

What is Melva?

MELVA is an award-winning creative, web-based programme, created by creative learning charity Mortal Fools, designed to improve children and young people’s knowledge and understanding of mental health and wellbeing.

It is delivered by teachers in primary school settings and with older young people in specialist provision.

Find out more

In the context of an ever-growing mental health crisis and with statutory services in such high demand…

… it is falling to schools to support children with their mental health, in place of trained mental health practitioners.

MELVA provides teachers with a ready to deliver intervention, and is designer for all children, not just those who are struggling. It focuses on teaching children the basic skills and understanding they need to keep themselves well, whatever challenges they might face in the future; supporting them to develop resilience pathways and positive emotional responses and relationships.

Interested in MELVA sponsorship and how you or your business could help?

Download our MELVA Sponsorship Overview which is full of testimonials from teachers and children, more detail on the MELVA programme and its impact alongside demonstrating how it could connect to ESG objectives and support children in local communities.

Download
Children watching the Melva feature film in a classroom
MELVA is a tangible, measurable and high impact way, to demonstrate an investment in children and local communities.
Your Impact

Individual schools can purchase MELVA for £750-£1000 per academic year

but in the contemporary landscape of ever-changing school budgets, sector cuts, increasing children’s needs and worsening mental health, the cost of the programme can be prohibitive for many settings.

By sponsoring MELVA, businesses can remove this financial barrier, whilst also supporting Mortal Fools – the children’s charity behind MELVA. Most importantly, they will be placing effective mental health resources directly into the hands of the children who need it most.

For businesses passionate about ESG and evidencing corporate social responsibility, MELVA is a tangible, measurable and high impact way to demonstrate an investment in children and local communities. Businesses or individuals can choose which settings they gift MELVA to, or our team can work with you to identify appropriate settings.

Contact our Sponsor Relationship Manager

MELVA Sponsorship
in action

Schools can access the MELVA programme through annual licences, which businesses and individuals can gift as part of their ESG commitments.

Sponsoring the MELVA programme helps children at a developmentally critical age by teaching effective wellbeing strategies and fostering emotional resilience.

During the 2023/24 academic year, MELVA supported approximately 4,000 young people, with 1,000 of them gaining access thanks to the generosity of our business sponsors, Muckle LLP and Ryder Architecture. Together, they sponsored 13 primary school settings and have continued their support in the 2024/25 academic year. They are now joined by two additional North East businesses: Square One Law and Sorella Sorella.

Read below to discover what they had to say about their involvement and why they are committed to supporting the MELVA intervention:

  • Muckle LLP

    Muckle LLP is a commercial law firm with offices in Newcastle and Cumbria. Operating out of Newcastle since 1920, the firm specialises in business services for clients across a range of sectors.:

    We are delighted to have been able to support Mortal Fools through its MELVA programme for a second year. The work they do in encouraging young people to increase their knowledge and understanding of mental health and connect with a language enabling them to talk about this openly is extremely important and is something we wholeheartedly support through our grant funding here at Muckle.

    – Nicola Leyden, Director of HR at Muckle LLP

  • Ryder Architecture

    Ryder is an architecture practice based in Newcastle upon Tyne. The firm works across a wide range of sectors and specialises in architecture, interior design, landscape design and placemaking:

    As a business we’re committed to helping young people to progress and thrive by supporting education initiatives in the communities in which we work. MELVA has never been more relevant. It tackles issues of anxiety, confidence and mental health in an imaginative and engaging way, and we are delighted to be supporting the programme for a second year.

    – Richard Wise, Partner from Ryder Architecture.

  • Square One Law

    Square One Law is a commercial law firm with offices in Newcastle, Teesside and Leeds. The firm specialises in supporting businesses to face any challenges ahead of them and achieve their goals and ambitions.

    Now more than ever, supporting young people’s mental health is absolutely crucial, and Mortal Fools is leading the way with their innovative Melva programme. We’re happy to play a small part in helping to bring Melva to local schools – by using storytelling to teach practical wellbeing techniques, they make mental health accessible and engaging for children.

    – Maria Brooks​​​​, Director of Operations at Square One Law

  • Sorella Sorella

    Sorella Sorella is an Italian restaurant in Sunniside, Washington. Offering authentic Italian cuisine in a relaxed setting with unique vintage decor, Sorella Sorella was named Restaurant Of The Year: North East at The Food Awards England 2023.

    We are delighted to support Mortal Fools as our chosen charity for 2025. Mortal Fools, through their Melva programme, support children and young people with their emotional and mental health wellbeing. As parents ourselves, we recognise the importance of giving children the information they need to be able to manage and understand their emotions, and to be able to support a North East based charity doing this is fantastic.

    – Roya Talai, Owner at Sorella Sorella

This year’s sponsors:

The impact of sponsorship

Further support from businesses will help us grow our user base even further, getting this high impact resource into the settings that need it most. We believe businesses must go further and faster, to build a better world for the future workforce and to unlock crucial and urgent support for children and young people in our communities and networks.

MELVA is an immediate investment into the development of foundational life skills, that can enable positive, fruitful lives of children and in the longer term, resilient teenagers and adults that can cope with the realities of the contemporary world

“Sponsorship from compassionate and civic-minded businesses like Muckle LLP and Ryder Architecture has enabled us to remove significant barriers for schools to access MELVA, placing effective mental health resources directly into the hands of the children who need it most. The more businesses like this we work with, the more children we can reach. We would love more businesses to invest in Melva, so we can reach even more young people!”

– Kiz Crosbie, Mortal Fools CEO & Artistic Director.

Kiz Crosbie, Artistic Director and CEO, delivering Teacher CPD to staff from Melva licensed schools
The more businesses we work with, the more children we can reach.
Kiz Crosbie, CEO & Artistic Director

Next Steps

If you’re interested in gifting MELVA, email our Sponsor Relationship Manager today to explore sponsorship opportunities.

We are always open to connecting with businesses and individuals who are interested in sponsoring MELVA. We induct new schools each Autumn, and are actively seeking out sponsors for Academic years 25/26 and beyond.

Click below to download our brochure, which covers what sponsorship looks like and what the gifted settings gets access to.

Sponsorship Brochure

Funded and supported by: