Youth Mindfulness Education, trading as iBme UK, offers in-depth mindfulness meditation programmes for young people. Our meditation retreats and online programmes guide young people in developing self-awareness, compassion, and ethical decision making, and empowers them to apply these skills in improving their lives and communities. iBme UK is committed to caring for the natural world and addressing issues of social justice in all that we do. Our vision at iBme UK is to support future generations of heart-centred, diverse leaders who are prepared to respond to the challenges of their time with focus, resiliency, and compassion for themselves, their communities and the global environment. We run residential mindfulness meditation retreats for young people between the ages of 15-24, and online programmes for youths aged 15-24. Our aim is to also support youth to sustain these tools in their lives and positive connections to like-minded people, through ongoing access to online peer community spaces after programmes. Our programmes introduce young people to mindfulness through guided meditation, mindful movement, small group discussions, and fun group activities. Participants in our programmes learn self-awareness, empathy, techniques to calm and focus the mind, and mindful communication – the foundations for success in all areas of life. The young people also learn how to apply mindfulness skills to daily life, connecting with nature and creative expression. Research on the impact of iBme retreats has shown young people experienced increased self-compassion and life satisfaction, and decreased rumination and reactivity, following retreats. Our programmes are inclusive and diverse, and we are passionate about expanding the reach and accessibility of mindfulness across a wide range of social and cultural backgrounds. We welcome young people from all backgrounds. Our fee structure of 1% of annual household income means that no-one is turned away due to lack of funds. The following are excerpts of what past participants have said about our retreats: “The friendships I made are some of the purest I’ve ever had. Without technology and distractions we could all be free, I really appreciated this.” “I was surprised to learn that I could concentrate more deeply than I thought and learn to make space for uncomfortable feelings.” “Putting myself in a more natural settings more often can readjust my baseline awareness to be more mindful in day to day life” Following the success of the online courses, our first Youth of Colour retreat in 2023 and our continued work with young activists on our wildwood retreat we have grown a strong online community of young people. We have a number of spaces including our Changemakers Circle, BPOC Youth Group and weekly community space for participants of our retreats and courses to come together to nurture and support each other. Our online community is now increasingly youth led allowing the young people to have a voice in the organisation. In the 2023/24 we took the decision to run any retreats. This is reflected in our trading accounts for the year. Despite that we continued to keep in contact and support our young people where needed.

The company stakeholders include iBme US who have been providing retreats for young people in the US for a number of years. They have supported the activities of Youth Mindfulness Education by providing teaching manuals, teachers and administrative guidance on running retreats for young people. As Youth Mindfulness has grown and become established we have developed or own pool of teachers and operational manuals for our online courses and retreats. We now work more in partnership and collaboration with iBme in the US and have been able to share our experiences of developing online courses during the pandemic. We continue to have regular meetings with the iBme US team and expect to continue our collaborative work. The other stakeholders of Youth Mindfulness Education include the young people that attend our retreats and their parents. As usual, after our retreats we sought feedback from these stakeholders. This feedback was overwhelmingly positive with some suggestions on how to make the experience of the retreat even better. In response to the needs of our young people we offer post-retreat support. Whilst retreatants are directed to local mindfulness groups, we have further supported them this last year with running a weekly online ‘Sit and Share’ group. This enables the young people to reconnect with each other and the staff member running the session to provide them with support beyond the retreat. Having now run a number of retreats we have established a core team of teachers and mentors that support with running the retreats, online courses and weekly sitting groups. The Directorships of the organisation has remained unchanged throughout this last year. We continue to work towards a more shared responsibility and collaborative approach to the core responsibilities of operations, marketing and finance. The Directors are supported by the wider community of volunteer teachers and mentors. We have working groups that focus on specific areas of the operational activities of the CIC. These include: online courses; retreats; safeguarding; staff development; operations; fund raising; legal and finance. This has allowed us to organise our growing number of volunteers into groups based on their skill set. These working groups report into the main Steering Group, which meets every month.

Full details of directors remuneration is in the company accounts. There were no other transactions or arrangements in connection with the remuneration of directors, or compensation for director’s loss of office, which require to be disclosed.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration