Our Vision

A world where children and young people with long-term health conditions are fully seen, supported and celebrated—able to flourish with confidence, creativity and hope, and to access the support they need, when and how they need it.

Our Mission

To transform the experience of childhood long-term illness by providing creative, compassionate therapeutic support; empowering young people with lifelong tools for emotional wellbeing; strengthening families; and working with clinicians and systems to build understanding, connection and equitable access to holistic, person-centred care.

Why did Teapot Trust exist?

Children and young people with long-term health conditions face wide-ranging challenges that impact their daily lives, identity, and mental health. Their condition can overshadow who they are, leaving them feeling defined by illness, lacking control, and struggling to express their emotions. Frequent treatments, pain, and fatigue disrupt schooling and friendships, while stigma, misunderstanding, and the need to constantly explain their condition add extra strain. These challenges are often intensified by intersectional issues of poverty, deprivation, or unstable housing, which reduce access to support and increase vulnerability.

Families also experience significant emotional and practical pressures. Parents juggle demanding care routines, frequent appointments, and the ongoing need to advocate for their child in systems that may not fully understand their needs. This can affect their ability to work, disrupt family routines, and place strain on relationships. Siblings may miss out on activities or schooling, and families experiencing financial hardship or limited support services often feel these burdens even more acutely.

At a system level, support is often fragmented and under-resourced. Clinicians are often overstretched, there is poor coordination between services, and inconsistent understanding in schools lead to gaps in care. Social stigma and low public awareness persist, while third-sector organisations are increasingly expected to fill NHS gaps despite funding pressures. These structural issues—combined with the additional barriers faced by families affected by poverty or other disadvantages—reinforce inequalities and make it harder for children to access timely, holistic support for both their physical and mental health. The rights for children as set out in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), to which the Scottish Government was an early adopter, are not being met. The UNCRC articles include the commitments, below, but this is not happening in practice. 

Article 23 (Children with a disability) says, "A child with a disability has the right to live a full and decent life with dignity and, as far as possible, independence and to play an active part in the community. Governments must do all they can to support disabled children and their families." 

Article 24 (Health and health services) says, "Every child has the right to the best possible health. Governments must provide good quality health care... and education on health and well-being so that children can stay healthy..." 

By the end of the sessions, there was a huge improvement in his mental health and it helped him completely turn around the way he was feeling to enable him to cope so much better. He now seems to have a very positive outlook on life.

Photography by the V&A Dundee.