With deep sadness, we regret to share that our recent funding application was unsuccessful and our current funding will end after April 2026.

We are actively making new applications and will continue to do so, but have thus far been unable to secure the funding we need to sustain our crucial services - a disheartening reflection of the current reality for many community organisations and small charities across the country.

Since 2021 we have supported over 2,500 community members. Now, we must raise £100,000 by end of April to keep our essential therapy services, befriending project, cultural competence training, and community events alive.

If we don’t reach this goal, we will be forced to terminate our Mental Health Programme, close our waiting lists, and turn away hundreds of community members in need of our services.

We’re lucky to belong to strong, caring communities. Community care isn’t abstract - it lives in action. Sometimes it means listening, and sometimes it’s arriving in times of need with resources in hand. If you can, please donate to our GoFundMe and share this with 3 people who support our mission for racial justice and strong collective mental health.

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"Sesame Organisation offers a safe comforting and nurturing environment, especially for ESEAs, that I personally have never seen or experienced elsewhere."

People from East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) communities across the country are reaching out to us, facing anxiety, depression, trauma, racism and isolation - but culturally competent, language-specific mental health support is still incredibly hard to access, and wait times for mainstream services are long.

More people ask us for help than we have the resources to support. When our current funding ends in April, communities will no longer have access to our life-saving mental health services.

"These sessions changed my vision in life and made me realise that I matter.”

Every penny donated to our GoFundMe makes a huge difference.

The numbers...*

This makes free, culturally competent, language-specific, trauma informed, grassroots mental health services like ours absolutely essential and highly relevant today in 2026.

We provide free, culturally-competent, language-specific counselling, peer support groups and safe community spaces where people can speak openly, feel understood, and begin to heal. For many of our service users, this is the first time they have ever been able to talk about their mental health without shame or stigma.

All our therapists are qualified professionals from East and Southeast Asian backgrounds, ensuring a true grassroots service. We pay our therapists a full and fair wage, because we aren’t just supporting communities in the present - we are building a future full of more ESEA therapists in the sector, and less mental health stigma in the generations to come.

But without funding, we cannot continue our mission.

“I would like to extend my gratitude for the opportunity to facilitate group therapy sessions under Sesame Organisation. It is such an honour to work with you. Thank you for opening a new community for me too and another safe space for me as a professional (and as a Filipina aspiring to extend my reach in the community) - this truly means so much to me, professionally and personally.

Thank you for the trust you’ve placed in me. I deeply value the spaces we shared (online or face to face) and the opportunity to witness people's lives transform. It is such a humbling experience and makes me feel close to home, thank you.”

Struggle, resilience, and hope have always been core pillars to the work we do. When we were founded in 2020, it was against a backdrop of hate, discrimination, and uncertainty. Six years later in 2026, these challenges persist for our communities and our work remains more relevant than ever.

Our work isn’t just important for today’s generation, but for all future generations to come. In destigmatising mental health discussions and accessing mental health services in ESEA communities, we are working to reshape and heal an entire culture.

The work is not yet done, but we need the resources to continue fighting.

CASE STUDY: The United Domestic Workers’ Alliance (UDWA)

We work with communities to shape the services they need most.

For instance, the UDWA is a community organisation of Filipino domestic workers rescued from exploitation advocating for justice, fair work, and dignity for migrant domestic workers. From May 2024, we co-designed a personalised group therapy service with UDWA members, placing their community voices at the centre and giving members real control over the support they received. This approach ensured members had ownership over design and delivery, leading to improved wellbeing and resilience amongst the community members.

“This therapy helps me a lot to manage my emotions, mentally, emotionally and physically. It change[d] my vision in life and it makes me realise that I matter.”

“Maraming support at impacts sa akin ang mental health therapy para sa akin (Mental health therapy has given me a lot of support and has had a big impact on me).”

Sources

*Protection Approaches, East and Southeast Asian communities’ experience of hate crime in the UK, April 2024