During the Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, St Germain’s Emergency Food Hub on City Road, Edgbaston launched the Emotional Wellbeing Service to provide one-to-one, guided self-help support to people suffering from common mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, after meeting hundreds of local residents who were struggling with their mental health.
The demand for their short courses, face-to-face and telephone support that equip people with the skills and strategies they need to overcome their difficulties, grew overwhelmingly throughout 2020.
Since they launched in May 2020:
they’ve now delivered more than 800 one-to-one therapeutic sessions, supporting more than 300 Service Users;
their wellbeing scale data and feedback have shown that more than 85% of Service Users accessing sessional support experiencing significant improvement in their mental wellbeing.
However, the Emotional Wellbeing Service was threatened with closure due to the pilot funding running out. Having moved from a crisis-response to a pilot project, they have now launched a Crowdfunding campaign, which went live on Friday 19th November, and is aimed at raising £23,000 to keep the Service open until the end of April 2022. To donate, please head to the link here
St Germain’s have already secured £8,000 but need support to bridge the gap to their long-term strategy as a sustainable service and have already put measures in place to help them achieve this next year. However, these measures won’t move them to a sustainable financial position until 2022 and St Germain’s were fighting to ensure that they did not turn people away from the help they have been providing.
Cllr Sharon Thompson was contacted by the group about their fundraising campaign. They set about exploring the funding options to keep the service running. As a result Birmingham City Council have agreed to look at the extenuating circumstances which has helped to secure £15,000 towards the group’s fundraising target.
Cllr Thompson said:
"This emotional wellbeing project has had a huge impact on many residents who have struggled in the pandemic.
It is essential we do all we can to keep the service running. I asked the Council to help explore funding options and was absolutely thrilled we was able to secure £15,000 due to the extenuating circumstances.
This project demonstrates community spirit at its best and we thank all the volunteers at St Germain's for all they are doing to help others."
To see how the service provides support in the community, please follow the link here
Here is what your donations to the service provides:
£5 – buys enough self-help guides to support 10 people
£15 – buys two sessions worth of drop-in support
£25 – buys a therapy session for a Service user
£100 – buys a course of 4 therapy sessions
£250 – buys 10 therapy sessions
£500 – buys our room hire for a month
These represent the core costs we have to meet to keep offering this free Service to our Community.
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