Very Powerful Foundation

Project Launch: Harnessing Positive Psychology to heal and sustain communities in need.

Dear Friends,

Your assistance is humbly requested as we launch the Very Powerful Foundation (VPF). Through Positive Psychology, the VPF empowers people who are grappling with personal setbacks or figuring out their first steps toward mental health or addiction recovery. The Very Powerful Foundation helps those who need these services the most, yet can afford them the least.

We hope you will consider supporting VPF with a contribution before our targeted launch date of February 15th 2025. It will be of great help to us as we endeavor to put our new organization on firm footing for the New Year.

Our empowerment programs are lead by an award winning Positive Psychology Coach along with a team of qualified co-facilitators. Our current pilot program which is our model provides participants with 2 hours of zoom workshops, 3 hours in person workshops, one hour 1 to 1, one hour guest speaker with Q&A, and one hour boxing lesson per week. The cost of running our courses works out to £35 per hour of Positive Psychology coaching per participant, contrasted with the UK average cost of £160 per hour for coaching. We’re currently fundraising to cover the remaining costs of our current pilot program, seed money for legal fees for obtaining our recognised charity status and to run 2 more 6 week courses between February and May 2025. We’ll continue our fundraising efforts in the new year with the our goal to offer 6 x 6-week empowerment courses utilising Positive Psychology paired with skateboarding, boxing, music, and art in 2025.

In gratitude,

Torey and Derrick

BACKGROUND

Through strategic non-profit partnerships, the Very Powerful Foundation (VPF) delivers a broad range of psychotherapeutic interventions, applying Positive Psychology to empower underserved communities and individuals so that they flourish socially, physically, and psychologically.

After conducting two successful pilot programs in the Spring and Fall of 2024, we are thrilled to be launching VPF as an independent nonprofit charity. We need the kindness and help of our friends to get things securely off the ground. As you might imagine, creating a brand-new organization with such vital impact requires time, energy and resources. To get VPF on firm footing before the holiday season, we aim to raise £25,000 in start-up funds by February 15th 2025.

HOW THE VERY POWERFUL FOUNDATION CAME ABOUT

(please view the video above to hear directly from Torey and Derrick about their journey!)

The Very Powerful Foundation had its origins when Derrick Corrigan and Torey Goodall met in 2022 through mutual friends. The two came from different perspectives and backgrounds, yet they soon sensed one important goal they had in common with one another – a fervent wish to bring effective self-care, purpose and direction to others, especially to people of limited means. Derrick has thirty years’ experience working in the field of psychology and psychotherapy, and currently channels this work through a strength-based Positive Psychology framework. Torey’s life has revolved around skateboarding since he was 8 years old. He worked at his local skate shop and became a sponsored skateboarder in his young teens, coming of age and living and working deeply entrenched in the skateboarder’s lifestyle ever since. Having spent 25 years as a sponsored amateur skater and working for a number of skate brands in various capacities, Torey found his home at London-based Palace Skateboards in 2014 where he remains an integral part of many facets of the business.

Photo: O'Meally

When they met, Derrick introduced Torey to the powerful concept behind Positive Psychology -- how its trained practitioners apply the simple, yet effective premise of harnessing what you enjoy in life to enable you to realize your goals and aspirations. Or, as noted psychologist Christopher Peterson has succinctly explained, “Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living.” Through Derrick’s introduction and subsequent consultation, Torey soon realized the immediate, transformative benefits Positive Psychology offered his own life – how it could help him shift perspective and get a handle on regaining a sense of direction in life following a career-altering injury. He became determined to share this newfound resource with as many people as possible.

There was a catch, however. Positive Psychology coaching sessions are typically offered in an elite, corporate environment and come at a cost beyond the reach of those who might need these services the most. How then could it help the underserved communities that are struggling with addiction and substance abuse? Or those who have recently been incarcerated and are making their first steps to resume their lives outside of prison? What about the family members who have been worn down by seeing the effects of these struggles on their loved ones? And shouldn’t people of low or modest means be entitled to therapies to address feelings of burnout or hopelessness just as more affluent sufferers would be?

In collaboration with Derrick, who shared these same concerns, Torey decided to create a pilot program for a nonprofit charity that would make Positive Psychology’s life-affirming interventional resources readily available to those in our communities who might benefit from them the most, but can afford them the least. They developed a model to offer Positive Psychology workshops in a group environment with additional 1-to-1 support while using a cultural context to explore concepts discussed in the workshops and that can be used as a tool for empowerment.

Photo: VPF

In the spring of 2024, Torey and Derrick launched a twelve week pilot session of bi-weekly meetings, with skateboarding (naturally!) as its central theme. The pilot was funded and facilitated through the generosity of Torey’s friends and employers at Palace Skateboards. This autumn the pair have been leading a similar multi-week session but with boxing – the activity through which Torey rediscovered the passion he once felt for skateboarding - as its physical tool for empowerment. Future sessions could encompass any pursuit that humans, in their wonderful variety and complexity, might hold dear, from salsa dancing to bread-baking! Such is the efficacy and flexibility of the Positive Psychology model.

The launch of VPF will culminate with Torey’s own “white collar” boxing match with London’s Fight City Gym on December 5th in celebration of the personal empowerment he has experienced through boxing and his resolve to benefit the larger community through the creation of VPF. If you're in London and want to attend, tickets sold here.

CONSTITUENCY – WHO WILL BENEFIT FROM THE VERY POWERFUL FOUNDATION?

Recruitment for VPF’s Positive Psychology sessions will rely on professional relationships Derrick Corrigan has built up during his 30-year tenure as a practicing psychologist. Partnerships will be established and reinforced with a variety of nonprofits that serve people of low to modest financial means who are coping with addiction and substance abuse, people who are in the process of leaving prison, halfway houses or rehabilitation facilities, and friends and family members who have been living with and supporting people with serious physical, mental, or social struggles. There will also be partnerships with businesses that would like to set up Positive Psychology sessions in the workplace to help treat staff members who are in need of care for substance abuse or other issues.

RISKS AND CHALLENGES

Creating a nonprofit organization, especially one devoted to mental wellness, is a considerably complex process, but with VPF’s firm commitment to addressing the current crucial need in the community, we’re very confident about the success of this launch. As we reach out to raise £25,000 in seed money through this crowdfunding effort, we’ll also be applying to government entities and philanthropic foundations for major support and hosting special sales events and parties to raise additional funds. All we need is your support – in any amount that works with your budget - to get things going for the Very Powerful Foundation. You will be, in fact, empowering us to become Powerful! Thanks so much for considering support. We will be very grateful.

Photo: VPF

The Very Powerful Foundation gratefully acknowledges these special friends who have given generously of their time and resources to create and sustain our organization: (list alphabetized by last name).

Daniel Batt

Sam Bosdoe

Tancred Campbell

The Wickers Charity

Greg Cohen

Susie Crome

Duke's Cupboard

Alexandrino Ferreria Da Silva

Greg Finch

The Ben Raemers Foundation

Michael J Fox

Daphne Greca

Quinn Girard

Kyle Hall

Stuart Hammond

Emily Horwood

Tom Hussey

Trish Jones

Chris Jones

Bill Judd

Morgan Love

Eamon Lyons

Scott Mackie

Ned Membery

Emma Middleton

Ana Ndekwe

Rise Up East Network

Rachel Norton

Fergus Purcell

Palace Skateboards

Gareth Skewis

Lev Tanju

Georgia Walker

Natalie Wang

Arnold Yousaf

All the participants