1 February 2022

HELLO and happy 2022! I hope that your new year is off to a productive and joyful start so far and that you are finding time in your days for self-care and rest.

The end of 2021 was an abrupt one for MindSpace with Omicron causing us to make the difficult decision to close our doors early in December with the hope that no one would need to isolate away from friends and family over Christmas. I am reassured by the latest reports from the Government which show that daily infections are sharply declining. Whilst we expect that there will still need to have precautions in place for a little while yet, I hope that we can continue to offer our programme of sessions and activities without too many more interruptions.

As you may have seen via our social media channels and through other updates, we welcomed some new additions to our board of trustees towards the end of last year. The energy and creativity that Sue, Zoe, Stefan, Alison and most recently, Adam, have brought to the team has helped us to achieve so much for our members, volunteers and community already.

A great example was our presence at the Stamford Santa fun run which was a highlight of 2021 for me. The event itself was full of fun and energy. The sight of all those Santas, and some with our orange MindSpace sashes, was incredible. Thanks to the support of the organisers, and all of those who took part and fundraised on behalf of MindSpace, we received £4,600 in donations from the event itself and an additional £2,570 from funds raised via Dr Dan Petrie’s Go Fund Me page. There is so much good that we can achieve with that money, from funding more sessions more regularly, shaped around the NHS 5 Ways to Well-being, to providing additional training and well-being supervision and support for our volunteers, especially our listeners.

WHAT TO EXPECT FROM MINDSPACE IN 2022

Our hub is two in 2022!

In February it will be two years since we opened our hub at 39 Broad Street and we have plans to celebrate alongside our volunteers, members and our community supporters who have all made it possible for us to have a space of our own.

One of the goals for us as a board of trustees is to work towards having our hub open more often so that more people can benefit from more sessions and from the skills and expertise of our volunteers. With support from other local charities, and from a number of recently successful grant applications, I am thrilled to share that new opportunities and extended opening hours will be something we hope to be able to share with you very soon.

Our focus remains on making the most of the ideas and skills of our Stamford community so if you have a talent for something that you wish to share that will help more people to connect, get active, learn, take notice or to give back then please get in touch.

SOCIAL PRESCRIBING

You may have heard the term social prescribing being used by local healthcare professionals, in the news and by us at MindSpace, but for many of you this will be a new concept. This article by the King’s Fund gives a great explanation of what it is and the benefits: https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/social-prescribing

In the most simple of terms, social prescribing is all about referring people to local, community based and enabled groups and services where they can access support to maintain positive mental and physical health. MindSpace is an organisation that offers a range of options that anyone can access on a donate-what-you-can basis.

Thanks to a grant awarded through Shine Lincolnshire (a charity mental health network – https://lincsshine.co.uk), MindSpace will be piloting a new social prescription service in Stamford. Our social prescription will allow local organisations to ‘prescribe’ well-being enhancing opportunities to those that they feel will benefit. Through this scheme, MindSpace will be able to offer Herbal Well-being courses, Mindfulness courses, employability and progression sessions, as well as social netball sessions to people our partnering organisations believe will benefit.

As well as supporting people to maintain positive mental health and well-being, we hope that this new social prescription model will empower other service providers to ask people more confidently ‘are you okay?’ in the knowledge that there is something they can do to offer support and a practical follow-up if the answer is ‘no I need help’.

Want to get involved?

We are looking to partner with a range of local services who offer support to people in other aspects of their life, such as job seeking, childcare support, family support and housing, who would be well placed to prescribe activities.

Please email info@mindspacestamford.com to find out more.

COMMUNITY CONSULTATION

This year we will be relaunching the community mental health forums upon which MindSpace was founded by Dr Dan Petrie. Our aim is to encourage community voice and participation in how local mental well-being services are shaped, as well as ensuring that MindSpace is meeting the needs, and supporting the strengths, of our community.

ACTIVITIES

Mindfulness: We are thrilled to be working with The Mindful Rebel to bring back Mindfulness to our schedule. Look out for new sessions starting soon.

Early Bird Boxing: Join Mark at Impact Boxing studio on Fridays at 07:40am for a pre-work, pre-weekend workout. End the week on fighting form!

All other activities and details of our full timetable can be found here.

Challenge yourself in 2022… and give back as you achieve your goals!

MindSpace relies heavily on donations to keep our doors open, to keep coffee brewing and to ensure there is a safe, non-judgemental community hub in Stamford.

If you are thinking about taking on a challenge in 2022 why not do it with #teammindspace?

Coming up in 2022:

The Burghley 7: https://www.therutlandmarathon.co.uk/burghley7

The Rutland 10k Night Walk: https://www.therutlandmarathon.co.uk/night-run

(THE LAST EVER) RAT RACE: https://ratracedirtyweekend.co.uk/

Or why not organise your own fundraiser? It could be as challenging or as creative as you like.

I hope this has given you a useful insight into how we have started the year, our plans, and what support you can expect over the next couple of months. The next message you receive from us will be with an invitation to join us for our ‘Two in 2022’ celebrations. Keep an eye on your inbox!

Take care,

Beka