The charity started in 2015 following the tragic death of Ashdon Muirhead who ended her own life at just the age of 14 years. As a teenager Ashdon struggled with peer pressure, peer aggression at school and lacking confidence about being herself in a society that pressurises young women to be and act a certain way.

Her mother Trisha Muirhead, continues to believe it is her life’s work to help as many girls faced with the same challenges as Ashdon.  She set up Ashdon Jazz Academy in 2015 and has since supported over 300 vulnerable young women. The main work of the charity is to assign a mentor with a mentee on a 1:1 basis. They meet, or speak regularly and empower confidence, develop personal skills, deal with their challenges and be an listening ear.  In addition, the charity continues to provide a weekly drop-in session, workshops, weekend retreats and other female only events.  AJA works in partnership with local Councils, Youth Clubs, Schools, Children’s Social Care and other statutory and voluntary organisations. This enables them to target vulnerable young females who may benefit from being referred, or may wish to self-refer directly for mentoring, or to access one of the services.