Target reached!
If we acquire our stretch target, we can triple our reach and support even more peop...
Counselling-Wellbeing & Pandemic Support Services
Blackburn, United Kingdom
Aim
Provide wellbeing support services to the most vulnerable and marginalised groups with a view to connect people and alleviate isolation.
Project Aims
We know that the last few years have been a tough few years for so many people and for the nation. People are suffering in silence and struggling alone with their own mental health and wellbeing.
We aim to help the most vulnerable, marginalised and excluded women and minority ethnic communities with their, wellbeing, safeguarding and needs, including tackling isolation, alleviating the obstacles faced due to, for example, gender, financial, cultural, language and other barriers that can become difficult to overcome.
Who Are We?
We are a women-led charity helping those suffering in silence from abuse and coercive controlling environments. We recognised that the pandemic would serve to further isolate those that are already experiencing isolation. We managed to acquire some funding during the pandemic. You can see on our YouTube channel a snapshot of some of our activities.
SAS RIGHTS FACEBOOK COMMUNITY PAGE
What Do We Do?
During the pandemic, we launched our Take A Break Project to help those struggling alone, especially women experiencing abuse. The project allowed us to reach into the homes of women, offering, chat, exercise, music and other sessions, including support with home-schooling, especially for women whose primary language is not English.
Who Do We Offer Offer Support To?
Currently, we can offer free support services for those on low incomes or those who do not have access to resources. However, we know we cannot sustain free services unless we can acquire funding to cover some of our basic volunteer expenses.
In addition, we offer closed as well as open sessions on a weekly basis.
Our closed sessions cater for the needs of those, especially women trapped in abusive situations, or who face a range of community-based or religio-cultural restrictions that can prevent them from engaging with others outside of their immediate family and home settings, or accessing exercise, wellbeing and other support services.
Our open sessions are for anyone who experiences, for example, financial barriers, feels lonely, isolated, want to improve their physical and mental health and wellbeing.
SAS RIGHTS are here to support and be as inclusive as we possibly can with the support services we provide.
We use dance, exercise, movement and chat are a big part of what we do to connect people, with the purpose of helping improve the physical and mental health, and wellbeing of our service users.
The exercise and wellbeing activities continue to this day in 2022!!
Just Some of the Benefits of our Services
By doing what we do and offering our services for free we provide a service that helps our most vulnerable users realise that they are not alone, and that should they need support, or if situations in the home become unmanageable, we will offer support.
Why Is Our Service Needed?
Too often those experiencing abuse are not ready to call the Police or contact statutory services, however, they will like support to help stop the violence. We recognise that the journey of realisation is a very personal one and one that requires understanding and patience.
Our project offers a much needed helping hand, support, and if required crisis intervention and advocacy services. We ensure individuals and families get the correct and culturally-appropriate response from statutory agencies.
Some More Information About The Services We Provide?
As our services expanded, we recognised that many wanted to offload, chat and talk through their experiences and as such we started to provide a talking therapy service. We also expanded our services to provide them to anyone, regardless of gender, ethnicity or any other identity.
The services we offer and are fundraising for include our exercise and dance classes. Anyone is welcome as long as they register and watch our health and safety virtual participation video. We do have a good sense of humour and know how to have fun :-). We encourage laughter in all our sessions!
We also have catered for those with disabilities with our chair-based sessions.
Why Do We Need Funding?
These events have been popular and regularly attended, however, demand for the services exceed our resource capacity. In order to continue the services and meet the increased demand, we have attempted to fundraise and self-fund wherever possible. We welcome your support, if you can't donate please just share our page with your friends, family and work networks. Every £1 of support is welcome.
We do not have any paid staff working for us, but all funds raised help to cover the costs of travel, room hire, telephone, equipment, IT, marketing and any other expenses associated with delivering the wellbeing support, exercise classes and also the emergency safeguarding support that we provide.
The more we raise the longer we can continue our services for free to those that need them the most.
Additional Counselling and Wellbeing Services
The below YouTube video describes the therapy sessions we can offer.
We are working hard to fundraise and expand our services, however, every other organisation is in a similar position to us, as such the support of the public and those that can afford to donate, is a key element of helping us to support the most vulnerable, and marginalised individuals and communities to overcome the after-effects of the pandemic.
Thank you and we hope you can donate and help our project. No donation is too small for us!
https://youtu.be/rtmTV3d4LNM
The National Emergencies Trust has provided £11,195 of match funding
This project successfully funded on 28th February 2022