Always on
This project successfully funded on 16th February 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
Help Us Keep Community Wellness Open
Llangollen, Wrexham Principal Area, United Kingdom
£1,708
raised so far
Crowdfunder is secure
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Aim
URGENT APPEAL: Help Us Keep Community Wellness Open this winter while we find a sustainable way forward
URGENT APPEAL: Help Us Keep Community Wellness Open This Winter
“I have been a GP for twenty-eight years, and the Community Wellness project has been the single most transformational service offered to my patients in all my time in practice. “
Dr Bob Tanner, GP, Llangollen
“Community Wellness gave me a sense of belonging and purpose and provided me with a toolkit for living. It saved my life.”
Community Wellness participant
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For the past several years, Community Wellness has been building something different - rooted in community, relationship, nature and human connection.
We create safe, welcoming, non-clinical spaces where people can find connection, purpose and recovery, bringing together clinical expertise with therapeutic, relational, somatic, creative and nature-based approaches.
We believe that healthcare can be about more than treating symptoms. It can be about creating the conditions in which people can heal, reconnect and thrive.
Over the past year, however, we have found ourselves in an increasingly precarious position.
We have struggled to secure sustainable funding for the community work, and our delivery and facilitation team have continued to keep Community Wellness going largely on a pro bono basis.
They have done this because they believe deeply in the work and in the people who come through our doors.
But it is no longer sustainable and we cannot keep asking people to give from an empty cup.
So we are asking our community to come together once again.
Why We Need Your Help Now
Community Wellness has never had statutory funding. We have relied on grants, donations and the extraordinary generosity of practitioners, facilitators and community members who have given their time because they believe in what we are building.
We had been working towards a much longer-term partnership with the Canal & River Trust, with an anticipated five-year funding commitment that would have provided a stable foundation for Community Wellness and enabled us to develop the model substantially.
Following the serious sinkhole incident at Chirk, which understandably placed significant demands on the Trust and its resources, communication around the proposed partnership subsequently went very quiet and the anticipated funding did not materialise.
This has been an incredibly difficult time for us.
We had invested significant time, energy and hope into building that partnership, believing it could provide the sustainable foundation needed for the next chapter of Community Wellness.
Instead, we have found ourselves back in a position of trying to keep the community work alive through short-term fundraising and the generosity of a team who are already giving more than is sustainable.
We Don't Want to Close Our Doors Abruptly
We have made the decision to continue a small, reduced community offer for our existing participants for the next three months, continuing monthly sessions until January 2027.
We have made this decision because we know how much Community Wellness means to the people who come through our doors.
For some, this community has become a place of belonging. For some, it has been a lifeline.
And for many, it is a place where they have found connection, purpose and hope at a time when other services have not been able to meet their needs.
We do not want to simply pull the plug on that.
Instead, we want to create a little breathing space: for our community, for our team and for the organisation itself.
This Crowdfunder is about helping us keep that space open for the next three months. Winter is the time our community needs us the most. It is when crises deepen, isolation increases, mental health worsens, and people who are already struggling are pushed to breaking point.
What Your Support Will Help Us Do
Our immediate aim is to raise enough money to cover the basic costs of maintaining this reduced community offer through to the beginning of next year.
This includes:
- venue hire
- food and shared meals
- essential delivery costs
- support for our delivery and facilitation team
Our community has already begun rallying around us, coming forward with ideas for fundraising and ways of helping us keep going and this has been incredibly moving to see.
Any funds raised beyond the immediate costs of venue hire, food and essential delivery will go towards supporting the wonderful practitioners and facilitators who have continued to give so much of themselves to this work.
Have a look at our website to find out more and listen to our weekly podcast episodes, read our monthly newsletters and find out about our timetable of activities in addition to signing up for community-wellness.co.uk
Why We Exist
Community Wellness was born from a recognition that our healthcare system is struggling to meet the increasingly complex needs of the people it serves.
People are experiencing chronic stress, trauma, loneliness, isolation and mental health difficulties, while many statutory services are stretched beyond capacity.
Too often, people are offered a prescription, a diagnosis or a referral when what they are really longing for is connection, relationship, belonging and a place to begin again.
Community Wellness creates safe, relational spaces where people can reconnect with themselves, with others and with their local community.
Our model brings together a wonderful team of GPs, therapeutic practitioners, community facilitators, nature practitioners, creative practitioners and people with lived experience.
And something remarkable happens when these different forms of knowledge and experience come together.
People who once arrived needing support often go on to become the people supporting others.
Participants become volunteers.
Volunteers become champions.
People who have experienced their own recovery begin to help others find theirs.
This is what makes Community Wellness a regenerative model.
The Impact
We have seen again and again the difference this work can make.
Our emerging evaluation shows that 91% of participants report an improvement in their wellbeing, with many describing significant and life-changing changes.
Our work is grounded in evidence, but it is also grounded in something much simpler:
People need people.
They need places where they feel safe.
They need opportunities to belong.
They need connection with nature, with community and with themselves.
And they need to know that they matter.
What Happens Next
We want to be honest about where we are.
We are going to do everything we can over the next three months to secure emergency funding and explore new opportunities for Community Wellness.
But we cannot promise that we will be able to secure what we need in time to continue into the new year.
If we are unable to do so, we will need to pause Community Wellness delivery from an organisational point of view.
This is not because we no longer believe in the work but because we believe in it enough to recognise that it cannot continue by asking our team to work beyond what is healthy or sustainable.
We need to protect the people who have built this community.
We need to create the space to rethink how Community Wellness can become financially sustainable.
And we need to allow the next chapter to emerge.
How You Can Help
We need your help now more than ever.
Please consider:
✅ donating if you can
✅ sharing the Crowdfunder widely
✅ speaking to local businesses about supporting us
✅ organising a sponsored challenge or fundraising event
✅ introducing us to anyone who may have ideas, funding opportunities or connections that could help us
Every contribution helps. Every share helps. Every introduction could open a door.
And if you have an idea about how we might navigate this moment or create a sustainable future for Community Wellness, please get in touch with us.
Help Us Keep the Lights On
We don't know exactly what the next chapter of Community Wellness will look like. But we do know what has been created here is more than just a community. It is a place of belonging, a different way of thinking about health and healing, and a space where people can find light in difficult moments. It is where those who once needed support can go on to become a source of support for others.
We don't want this to disappear because we couldn't keep the doors open long enough to find another way.
So, for the next three months, we are asking our community to help us keep the light on.
Together, we can turn this difficult moment into a story of regeneration, resilience and hope.
Please donate. Please share. Please help us find a way forward.
If you want to get involved or learn more about how you can support us - please contact us at [email protected]
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made