Supporting thousands of people towards better mental health
Who we are and what we do
I’m Caroline Cook and I’m Operational Services Manager at Mind BLMK.
Mind BLMK are one of around 104 local Minds. Lots of people have heard of national Mind and each local Mind is linked together as part of this federation. Each of us is a charity in our own right, with our own board of trustees and responsible for our own funding. This enables us to work closely with our local funders and develop services that meet the needs of our local communities. Each local Mind works hard to support the Mental Health and Wellbeing needs of their communities. At Mind BLMK our vision is for those in our community to have the best mental health.
The services we deliver from our Luton Wellbeing Centre are made possible by the funding we receive from Luton Rising via our Community Investment Fund grant from Bedfordshire and Luton Community Foundation.
The funding enables us to employ a team of 6 staff who collectively deliver an enriching timetable of group activities which are designed to future proof peoples mental wellbeing and support their individual path of recovery.
Our services are free and easy to access, based at the heart if the community with something every day of the week – Monday through Friday. A key success of the service is that people are able to access as many groups as they would like across any given week, in order to meet their individual needs.
Sessions we deliver include drop-ins, where people have opportunity to connect with others and reduce social isolation whether through playing a game, undertaking a craft activity, colouring or reading. Sessions are facilitated by our recovery workers who also provide information about other services and support available locally and share tools and techniques that support Mental Health and Wellbeing.
We also deliver peer support groups – two available to access online and one in the evening – which helps us to meet the needs of the wider Luton population who would otherwise be unable to access during the day due to work/ life commitments. Peer support enables people with a shared lived experience to come together and give emotional and practical support to one another.
The team also deliver a number of groups across the week including Lighthouse, our group for young adults aged 18-30; a walking group at Stockwood Park; mindfulness sessions, art and weekly groups for men and women. We are always looking to co-produce new activities which over time has included a monthly cookery and book club.
We encourage people to share their skills and interests with others and where possible lead activities and share their skills with others which supports the development of confidence and self-esteem.
Impact from the Luton Rising funding
By accessing our services people’s Mental Health and Wellbeing is impacted in wide variety of ways. For some, sessions provide a structure for their day and their week, a reason to leave the house.
Attending the Centre enables people to feel part of their community. It provides connection with others, reducing social isolation and loneliness.
Our services enable people to develop confidence, self-esteem and a sense of empowerment to make change and take on new challenges such as volunteering.
Our service enables people to develop healthy Mental Health and Wellbeing management techniques and ways to practice self-care.
Funding also enables us to link people with other services and agencies in our community who can support people with some of the things that impact on people’s wider Mental Health such as housing and debt.
We are also able to add richness and diversity to services by supporting volunteers, a number of whom go on to become paid members of staff and local Occupational Health and Social Work students on placement from the University of Bedfordshire.
Our work enables us to go out into the community and give talks and attend events with the impact of reducing stigma and promote understanding about mental health.
Number of service users
In 23-24 over 230 people directly benefitted from our support in Luton. The team delivered over 650 group sessions, and there were over 3500 session attendances during that time.
