Mental Health Awareness Week

We’re excited to announce that today marks the start of Mental Health Awareness Week, and we’re hitting the ground running with a free programme to help customers with their mental health issues.

The pilot initiative will allow ten customers to attend confidential weekly sessions over an eight-week period. They will provide support and a safe place to discuss mental health challenges people might be facing.

The sessions launched today, alongside Mental Health Awareness Week running until 18th May. We have partnered with the community interest company Calm Ahead to deliver it and given £2500 in funding.

If the pilot is successful, then we will consider rolling out the service at other locations.

“We are really pleased to be offering this important free and confidential service to customers for the first time,” said FCHO’s Stronger communities manager, Naomi Martin-Smith

“Our customer feedback has highlighted mental health issues as one of the major concerns and, in our role as an anchor organisation, we felt it was right to listen and act on those findings.

“After the eight-week course, peer support sessions will continue to help our customers access further support for issues such as funding employment or tackling debt,” Naomi explained.

She added: “The pilot also very much supports our other initiatives to support our customers like Live Well, therapeutic yoga, virtual walking and the volunteer driver service pilot."

The ten places for the pilot will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

The programme will be in cognitive behavioural therapy. This talking therapy helps individuals understand and change unhelpful thinking and behaviour patterns with a view to setting goals and finding practical coping strategies