Member Article

Leading Mental Health Organisation Launches Local Wellbeing Hub To Break Blue Monday and Beyond

One of Birmingham’s leading mental health organisations – Living Well Consortium – has announced plans to launch a wellbeing hub in Hall Green, Birmingham after the success of its first project, grounded. – a wellbeing café in Selly Oak. The project will be launched on 15 January 2024, more commonly known as Blue Monday, and will offer visitors a safe, accessible and non-intimidating place to discuss the mental health options available to them, refer themselves for talking therapies, and attend wellbeing workshops and therapies.

With funding from NHS England, the second addition to Living Well Consortium’s roster of wellbeing hubs, grounded. Hall Green, will differ slightly from the café model of its successful predecessor – grounded. Selly Oak - instead tailoring specifically to the needs of the local community.

Launching on 15 January 2024 – also known as Blue Monday - the wellbeing hub will be located at 1043 Stratford Road, Hall Green, and will act as an information, education and workshop centre. At grounded. Hall Green, visitors will find a welcoming, safe place to discuss options for mental health support with a registered therapeutic mentor, as well as wellbeing workshops and therapies, and community events, all of which aim to improve mental wellbeing, remove the stigma around mental health and bring the community together.

According to recent NHS data, Hall Green has some of the lowest numbers of people in mental health care in the region. By opening a welcoming space in the heart of the community, Living Well Consortium has embarked on this project with the hopes of empowering the local and wider population with mental health needs and queries to share their concerns, providing them with the right information and signposting in a calming, warm environment.

Plans for this new wellbeing hub come after the success of Living Well Consortium’s maiden project – grounded. Selly Oak. The first-of-its-kind wellbeing café was launched with the aim of serving the residential population of the local area, offering visitors a place to relax, recover, and recoup. Since launching in September 2023, the wellbeing café has offered students and residents alike much needed mental health support, as well as community spirit and the chance to interact with one another – which they may otherwise not be exposed to.

On the launch of their new wellbeing hub, Ben Howells, Chief Executive Officer at Living Well Consortium, comments:

“When you embark on a new project like grounded., you always hope it is going to be as well received as you think it is; Well, I think I can speak for the entire team when I say that the response to the Selly Oak site has blown us away. We’ve always been dedicated to offering the most effective and accessible solutions for mental health support but the success of grounded. Selly Oak is a testament to just how important community wellbeing spaces like these really are.

“With grounded. Hall Green, we didn’t want to copy and paste the initial model (as good as it is!), we knew it needed to reflect the people who would be using it. With that in mind we’ve put in a lot of work to ensure that the site is catered directly to the local community and their needs, and really hope that we have another success story on our hands – for the community themselves more than anyone else!”

While Living Well Consortium will be at the helm of the project, the day-to-day operations and clinical aspect of the hub will be led by Birmingham-based CIC, Cognitive Wellness. With the aim to bring communities together, strengthen families, improve emotional and physical wellbeing and increase awareness of social enterprises within communities, Cognitive Wellness offers service users dedicated, individual support in a variety of ways, from talking therapies and support sessions, through to volunteering opportunities and community development.

Saira Jan, Clinical Director at Cognitive Wellness, adds:

“We’re thrilled to be working with Living Well Consortium on such a brilliant project. The Selly Oak site is a testament to how important things like this are for the community and to be able to play such an important part in the latest project is something we don’t take lightly.

“At Cognitive Wellness our core goal is to help people who are struggling with their mental health, providing them with support, resources and education – this project will help us implement that care in a community that is currently lacking crucial mental health offerings. We’re so excited to get stuck in come January and can’t wait to really embed ourselves into the community, helping those who need it most.”

grounded. Hall Green will be official open to the public on Monday 15 January 2024. To find out more, please visit their website.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Claire Bryson .