Meet Sanchia from The Juno Project
Tell us about The Juno Project
We provide support around mental health and wellbeing for girls aged 10 – 18. We have a dedicated schools programme, and we also run wellbeing/mental health-based craft and chat sessions in the community, along with some 121-coaching support. We work across the whole of West Sussex, which is where we’re primarily funded, but we can work in East Sussex and Brighton & Hove by arrangement.
We deliver psychoeducation, supporting young women to understand how their own brains and nervous systems work and teach tools that support participants to cope with big feelings, like anxiety. Our focus is on supporting young women to grow their self-awareness, resilience and confidence. Our range of topics is huge and growing in response to emerging issues. Our team has a strong strand of lived experience of childhood challenge running through it, from our facilitators to me, and our board: this is valuable as it’s very hard to be what you can’t see.
The Juno Project was born out of the idea that ‘your history doesn’t have to be your destiny’. The facilitator team make wonderful positive role models and there is opportunity for young women who have previously taken part in our programmes, to influence the service through our youth board.
What is your role?
I am the CEO of The Juno Project, which means I am responsible for both the operations and the strategic direction of the charity. I report directly to the Trustee Board. We are a very small charity, so my role is very varied - I might be writing a funding bid in the morning and attending a facilitator, or board meeting, in the afternoon. It keeps me on my toes! We’re currently interviewing for an Operations and Programme Coordinator which will free me up to focus more on strategy and the new role to support our operations.
Prior to working for Juno, I had been managing a much larger project that worked with families, children and young people for some years, and felt like I was ready for change. The opportunity to work for Juno appeared and I jumped at the chance to focus on working with girls and young women and to take on a new challenge.
What do you think are the biggest challenges young women are facing?
Where do I start - there are so many - some unique to this moment in history and some timeless and shared. Growing up has always been tough from the perspective of working out who you are, where you fit in and who you want to be, but now young women are trying to do that in a hall full of mirrors, with so much pressure and expectation. Misogyny is also growing amongst young people, and despite tighter legislation, and open dialogue, around consent, discrimination and the rights of girls and women, schools are still telling us that they are scared about the amount of misogyny they see from boys and even more scary is that they are telling us that girls feel unable, or unwilling, to call it out.
Tell us about your work that girls and young women can access
We’ve just started delivering our 2026/27 wellbeing programmes in secondary schools – they run over 6/7 weeks for small groups of years 8-10 and we also offer 1:1 coaching for Year 11s. These are all delivered in school and currently funded through the wonderful Gatwick Foundation so free to schools in West Sussex. We have funding to deliver for further schools so anyone who is interested can email me at Sanchia@thejunoproject.co.uk.
There are real immediate benefits for the girls and young women that attend our schools’ programmes, as well as skills that support them throughout their life. Our impact data shows that at least half of the people who attend our school programme have improved attendance. Schools say that young women who come on our programmes become more mature and are more able to regulate their emotions.
Alongside our work in schools, we have some workshops running in the community.
Our sessions in East Grinstead have just started and the sessions are full with a waiting list. Sessions in Littlehampton and Chichester will be starting in January and there are places available in both locations.
We are also applying to run our Horizons project in primary school again; this is a transition project to support vulnerable girls as they move on to year 7.
There is more information about our programmes on our website.
What resources are available for schools and colleges to support their learners
I am always open to discuss developing a programme to suit specific needs and address issues that are coming up. We’re also happy to signpost and share suitable resources. We’re very happy for people to contact us to ask for support and guidance.
People can read about the experience of a young women who took part in one of our programmes to see more about what our work does.
Sussex Learning Network partnered with The Juno Project through our Community Fund, read a case study here to find out more about the project.