The story so far

The Good Life Fund was developed with stakeholders, including those with lived experience of mental health, and grants of up to £1,500 are distributed to local groups for activities that support the Five Ways to Wellbeing, which are: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning and Give.

Small grants can be a catalyst for encouraging people to take the first steps to become engaged in their communities, inspiring them to develop their ideas for groups and activities.

We are delighted to share that The Good Life Fund has provided grant funding for 28 community groups since April 2023.

Abby Glonek, Good Life Fund Co-ordinator, said, “Each year, successful applicants work hard to ensure that their  community projects last ideally beyond the six-month time period – I’m delighted to share that the majority of our projects have exceeded that target and have achieved longevity. It is an exciting time for the Good Life Fund project, and we look forward to sharing even more positive news and developments with you over the next few months. Do get in touch with the us to find out how our projects might be able to help you and the people you support.”

The Armour Project

The Armour Project is a self-harm support project for young people aged 16-25, in and around the town of St Neots in Cambridgeshire. The initiative is run by Pennyroyal Tattoo Studio who began the project after seeing people who were getting tattooed or pierced with self-harm scars. The project has seen over 36 people who are affected by self harm. Most joined the project through the group’s monthly sessions or enquiries received via its social media, email or through professionals.

Anna Kostrubala, neighbourhood project manager for the NHS Cambs & Peterborough Integrated Care System, external in St Neots, said, “The necessary discussion about the condition of the skin is not a taboo subject with a tattooist but a vital conversation.?Additionally, tattooists are used to the judgement that being tattooed brings and the project can offer a completely judgement-free, welcoming, and safe environment to all.”

The Armour Project team, who are now fully trained Mental Health First Aiders, want to support individuals by offering them opportunities to join coffee and chat evenings for people who self-harm and the people that support them. These are run every first Monday of every month and are themed around an activity that would give participants an opportunity to learn something new. For example, playing musical instruments, learning about different types of books, painting and crochet etc. The team at The Armour Project understand that self-harm can be a way for people to cope when they are feeling overwhelmed with emotional stresses. Finding something that they love doing can help reduce how overwhelmed they’re feeling and bring a focus on self-care rather than self-harm.

The grant provided by The Good Life Fund has been key to the project’s development and Anna and the team at The Armour Project have used the money in a variety of ways. “With the monies received through this Fund, we were able to design and produce the resources that are included in the aftercare packs received by each person at the studio, this consists of existing standard wound care and the new booklet about the project with signposting to relevant mental health services. The funding also helped with the organisation of the launch event in February 2024.”

The Armour Project has big goals for the future, too. Anna Kostrubala says, “In the future we plan to spread the word about the project to other tattoo studios across the county. We are also planning on attending the national tattoo convention in March 2025 and speak to as many tattoo parlours as we can to increase the awareness of self-harm and the opportunities for tattooists to join this scheme and support their clients who may benefit from this type of support.”

Henna’s story

“My name is Henna, I’m 18-years-old and I love reading and going for late night walks. I have struggled with my mental health since I was a young child and as a result of me being afraid to speak up about it got progressively worse as I got older. I first received professional help at around 13-years-old and have continued needing support. Being diagnosed with different mental health disorders has been challenging and scary but has allowed me to meet some amazing people with the similar struggles and experiences to me and it’s made me feel a lot less alone.

I first heard about the amour project earlier this year when I went to go get some piercings and I thought the project was such an amazing idea and I had never heard of anything like it before.

Attending the Armour project sessions have been a great help in finding different interests/ hobbies as well as finding a non-judgemental space to talk to other people. I really enjoy how the sessions can encourage you to try something you never have before. I got to play the drums for the first time at the music session. I also really enjoyed the session on books, and it was really fun hearing other people be passionate about something you are especially for different reasons.

For other young people who self-harm, my advice would be to try to find at least one person you can talk to when your struggling, someone you know will have your back and wont judge. This makes it a lot easier to ask for help when you need it. Remember there is more to you than your self harm and do things that remind you of you outside of the self-harm and that make you happy, it isn’t easy. I try going for a walk with music blasting in my ears as it helps to drown out the thoughts running through my head. Lastly, do your best to not be so hard on yourself you are so important and people do care.

I personally do not think that there is enough support in schools and colleges for young people who self-harm. I found that the best thing that helped me was having a non-judgemental adult that I could speak to if I had self-harmed and needed help. I didn’t want a massive lecture about how bad it was when I was already beating myself up about it. Just having someone to sit with me when my urges were bad or after it happened and to let me talk if I wanted without pressuring me was the most helpful thing I experienced.

My goal for the future is to hopefully try to help people who are struggling with their mental health as someone who has experienced the good and bad of mental health services I want to try my best to become someone who others can go to for support and feel like they matter.”

From the onset, the project was supported by St Neots Integrated Neighbourhood partners that formed a working group to support with all aspects of project development including identifying the training requirements for the project team. Some of the key partners include:  CPSL Mind, Samaritans, Sun Network, Healthy You, NESSie, Cambridgeshire County Council and the Youth Council at St Neots Town Council. We have also been offered support by some of the fabulous community representatives and local businesses to facilitate and offer activities for the coffee evenings in particular: The Peppercorns Academy, Stitch Street Crochet, Pennyroyal tattooists, local bookworm, and Waterstones in St Neots.

Visit: https://www.facebook.com/Pennyroyal.tattoostudio/ to get in touch with the Armour Project team.

The Hobby Hub

Launched in 2022, The Hobby Hub promotes traditional hobbies that range from painting and scale modelling, to sculpting and wargames, textile work and state-of-the-art 3D printing.

The Hobby Hub project is powered by Social Echo and a team of individuals dedicated to creating positive social impact. Social Echo is a non-profit organisation based in the UK on a mission to dismantle poverty and lack of opportunity by harnessing the potential of social trading to build stronger communities.

Speaking about the project to CPSL Mind, Ollie Ayres, Director, Social Echo said, “CPSL Mind’s support has been brilliant in terms of getting the project off the ground, working with Abby and other colleagues and building those community connections and friendships. What we have really liked about CPSL Mind is that the charity has stayed in touch with us throughout the process and suggested new ideas. The team has always checked in and maintained contact. We feel like we can go to CPSL Mind with any queries we have.”

The Hobby Hub has really helped people in times of need. Ollie explains, “We had a guy a few months back whose wife passed away and he wanted to get out the house and visit us. It was great to see all the other attendees drinking tea with him and supporting him and chatting and keeping him company. Normally, he only stays for an hour or so, but he stayed for six hours that day.”

“Uptake has been really popular. We are based in Yaxley – the Yaxley Farcet Men Shed and the Hobby Hub, but anyone in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough can come. We welcome all ages, all abilities and all backgrounds, we work with a local deafblind support service; they asked me to pour nuts and bolts, for the people they support, into a box to sort – they like the tactile nature of this task. We also have loads of local support. Local businesses are supporting us with table cloths, drinks, linen fabric and we distribute these products out in the community.

The team are incredibly passionate about supporting as many people as possible in the community and on the importance of skill sharing. “We want to carry on working with CPSL Mind, get the place opened up more and more. Get more groups in and more things going on. We have some brilliant volunteers with trades and crafts. We would like to offer some upskilling sessions for the general population to learn a new craft and a new skill.”

So, has the Hobby Hub achieved its goal? “We always said that we wanted to offer a space for a community to grow, says Ollie. “Some of the guys I meet for coffee outside of The Hobby Hub, two of the guys attend a carers group but unfortunately the carers group has lost funding, so we are moving their carers group to here. We said they can use this space to have an informal meet-up once a month. It’s brilliant that CPSL Mind’s other services, such as The Good Mood Cafes and the Discharge Buddy service has referred people to The Hobby Hub. It really has been joined up working and collaboration.”

Visit The Hobby Hub Yaxley for more information.