Katarinahuset, 2025-01-08

Welcome to the Tim Bergling Foundation!

COMMUNITY. We spoke to Klas Bergling, the foundation’s chairman and founder.

Hi Klas! We are proud to have you here at A house Katarinahuset. You work to promote young people’s mental health, well-being and confidence in the future, and you and your wife Anki Lidén started the Tim Bergling Foundation in memory of Tim after his tragic death by suicide in 2018. Can you tell us how you work today?

– We work based on our vision of a society where children and young people feel good, feel safe and confident and reach their full potential. Those who nevertheless feel bad should be offered quick support. Alone is not strong and to reach out even though we are a small organization, we collaborate with various organizations but also run our own projects and there is a great need for preventive efforts for children and young people, for example in school and in leisure time and a lot of work remains to be done to realize our vision. It is important to be able to work in pleasant premises that provide the right energy.

What initiatives are you focusing on right now?

– We focus on preventive initiatives in meaningful leisure and schooling, with young people’s voices as our guiding light. Initiatives in focus right now are the music studios we are building around the country, where young people have the opportunity to express themselves and find community through music. We are starting podcasts in schools where pupils and student health services talk about life, we are giving lectures in various contexts and in the spring we are publishing a new version of the book For A Better Day, in which a thousand young people in Sweden express their feelings, thoughts and wishes for a better day.

What message do you have for the country’s leaders when it comes to these issues?

– The issues of young people’s mental health, well-being and confidence in the future are a societal challenge that we can only solve together, civil society is making great efforts, now also authorities but additional resources are needed and the business community is one of several forces that can do more. It is not just a moral issue – it is an investment in the future.