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The SMTT funds grants towards the purchase of specialist trauma therapy for children/young people and their parents/carers who have had adverse childhood experiences (ACE’s) which contribute to a context of developmental trauma.

ACE’s are stressful or traumatic events that take place before the age of 18, such as abuse, neglect or domestic violence. Children who grow up in unsafe homes learn to adapt to daily threat and fear and can experience struggles in many areas of their life such as emotions, behaviour, learning, their sense of identity and relationships. This is known as Developmental Trauma. Developmental Trauma is not just something that lives inside a child, it also lives in the relationships and context around them.

SMTT provides funding to purchase therapy for those in financial hardship who could otherwise not afford it. 

To be eligible to apply you need to live in West Sussex and your circumstances must meet one of the following criteria:

(1) Be a child or young person under the age of 18 years old, who is cared for by the Local Authority in West Sussex, or

(2) Be an adult who is the parent or carer of a child or young person who is adopted or living with you under a Special Guardianship Order, where access to your own therapy will benefit both you and the care arrangement, or

(3) Be providing a kinship care arrangement where you and the child or young person you look after is exempt from accessing therapy via the Adoption and Special Guardianship Support Fund (ASGSF).

There will be three periods of time across the next twelve months, starting in June 2026, when we will accept applications.

We are now open to receive applications using the online form below. Applications submitted in June, July and early August will be considered at a Grant Panel in mid October.

When we have enough applications to consider in October 2026, the application form will be removed but the website will give details of the next opportunity to apply; that is when the application form will again be live via the website.

If you would like to apply to the Shannon Moore Trauma Trust for a grant to fund yourself or another person’s therapeutic assessment or therapy, please take a moment to read through the steps involved in the process, before moving forwards with your application.

Step 1:

Click into the application form below these steps. You will be asked to tell us which of the three criteria above you are making your application under and to give some information about the kind of adversity you, or the applicant have experienced.

You will see that the application form then asks for a lot of wider background details; so it may be helpful to read down through the form and look at the questions and gather all the information you will need before starting to fill out the form. Please note the form cannot be downloaded or saved and returned to another day, so you will need to complete it in full and submit it in one go!

Step 2: 

Our administrator will receive your online application form when you finally press the submit button at the end of the form. This is located after the final question which asks: is there anything else you would like to tell us?

Step 3: 

Our administrator will initially review your application and make contact with you if any information is missing or requires clarification.

Step : 4

Our administrator will organise to have a more personal telephone or online conversation to discuss practical information about the potential to attend therapy, discuss what is involved in therapy and whether the time is right to start this kind of work. Our administrator will write up the additional information you provide and add this to your application

Step 5:

Your application will then be reviewed by one of the Trustees with clinical expertise for a decision as to whether it is suitable to progress to and be considered at the Trustees full Grants Panel meeting. you will be updated of this decision and the timescales for any next steps by our administrator.

Step 6: 

Beyond the Grants Panel meeting you will be contacted again by our administrator to confirm the outcome of the Trustees’ decision and if successful in receiving funding to purchase therapy, you will be given full details of the finance awarded and the arrangements around the transfer of your details to the therapy provider and the conditions around using the grant.

MAKE AN APPLICATION BY FILLING IN THE FORM BELOW AND PRESSING SUBMIT WHEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED ALL THE SECTIONS AND PROVIDED ALL THE  DETAILS ASKED FOR