2024 Winner
Molly Leonard
After finding solace in crafting as she battled serious illness, Molly now shares her passion and skills to help others.
Molly Leonard fell seriously ill with an eating disorder, spending long periods in hospital over the course of six years, often far from her home in Wales. Mindful crafting helped her pass the time and she soon began sharing her skills by running sessions for other patients. She has gone on, with help from The King’s Trust, to provide crafting sessions in schools, with youth services and her community.
Molly had developed a love of crafting ever since her grandmother taught her to knit as a child. During long spells as an in-patient, she found crafting helped her with both her physical and mental health.
Molly began making things and giving them as gifts. When other patients asked her to teach them, she began running sessions. She says: “That’s where it all began. We made pompom penguins, bracelets, anything we could. Then my occupational therapist suggested it was something I could do as a business and told me about The Trust.”
Two years ago, after the suggestion from the therapist, Molly contacted The Trust from her hospital bed. Seeing the impact her sessions had on her fellow patients, she wanted to set up a business to teach crafting, and also run classes to help people with their mental health and wellbeing. She says that as well as providing funding and advice, The Trust has helped her find her confidence and self-belief.
She says: “I had no job and no money, just an idea and a need to get out of the downward spiral I was in. “I needed a change in my life so I made a call and was soon on the Enterprise course. “Before long I was holding workshops in my local library. The Trust has been with me throughout, supporting me as I kept proving to myself I could do things I’d never thought possible.”
Molly has taken a Preparing to Teach course at Cardiff Metropolitan University and hopes to continue to grow her business. She also became a King’s Trust Young Ambassador earlier this year.
She says: “I was stuck, in-and-out of hospital, with no motivation. I could see no future for myself, couldn’t see myself getting past my eating disorder. I believed I’d let everyone down so there was no point in trying. “Around this time I was almost put under palliative care. The King’s Trust gave me hope. I started achieving little things, the little things got bigger and I’m now where I am. It’s crazy.
“I’m honoured to have been nominated for a Pride of Britain award, let alone win one. It’s beyond anything I could have imagined.”