Wandsworth Care Alliance

What people working in Wandsworth want for better networking events

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Our Voluntary Sector Forum was a great time with 43 of us in the room from over 30 different organisations who work with the community. Thank you for those of you who came on the day.

The point of this event was to meet local organisations and ask, how can we make our forum events better? Together, we’re looking forward to build more empowering networks for people who work with the community in Wandsworth.  

In this article we share the results of ideas in the room, and ways you can join in at our community informed events for non-profits, and community projects in Wandsworth.

What do you like about attending networking events in the sector? You told us

Getting out, meeting people, sharing food, and changing up the routine. Hearing interesting stories, catching new ways of working collaboratively, and learning new things.

What are your biggest challenges to attend an event? You told us

Being too busy, location, lack of capacity, lack of purpose, no built-in time to network, no reason to attend, not knowing who will be there, not having clear communication. Start and end of the working day are better times.

What excites you most? You told us

Contact information being shared in creative ways, some reimbursement for travel/time, knowing who will be there. Having targeted relevant and inspiring information. A calendar of options to enable choice. Sharing, valuing and appreciating each other. Time efficiency with a smooth running order. Creative formats with clear benefits like skills, benefits, wellness resources.

Good follow ups!

How can we make events open accessible and inclusive to all? You told us

Good travel links to venues, sharing advance information. Having a mix of online and in-person meetings. Vary the timings, but the end and start of the day works well to get away from the to do list easily. Think about incentives and engaging ways to include everyone.

We’re taking this feedback onboard to create an exciting new set of events and switch up the agenda. Do you want to come along to an upcoming event?

We have a Children and Young People Forum happening on Tuesday 23rd April – 10am

And save the date for our next VSF – Wednesday 5th June – 10am

Health Inequalities Fund: welfare support and legal advice for all people

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people sat in a group with laptops collaborating

To be effective in tackling health inequalities we must not just react to illness but also prevent illness by helping people to live well and stay well. Some people may struggle to access welfare and legal advice, (particularly those belonging to less advantaged groups).

People need a good standard of living and protected rights to stay healthy.

WCA are programme managing the Health Inequalities Fund to allocate funds to voluntary sector projects in Wandsworth and create a steering group to deepen conversation about this issue and address barriers to accessing local services. Project delivery will run from March 2024 – March 2025.

What groups are we working with that experience health inequalities?

Organisations who work with the community in the following 6 theme groups are being invited to collaborate and join the following project information sessions.

19th February – 11:00-12:00 Unpaid/young carers project – RSVP

19th February – 14:00-15:00 Learning difficulties/autism project – RSVP

20th February – 11:00-12:00 Black/Asian/Global majority ethnic project – RSVP

20th February – 14:00-15:00 LGBTQIA+ project – RSVP

21st February – 14:00-15:00 Asylum seekers and refugees project – RSVP

22nd February – 14:00-15:00 Socially isolated people project – RSVP

Is there funding available to support the projects?

Funding may be available to support people with activity addressing these issues at the discretion of the lead organisations who will be organising an engagement group in March 2024.

Could you be a project lead?

Do you believe your organisation is a leading voice in Wandsworth on engaging people in one of these 6 key themes? You could be a project lead and access funding support from £10k-£80k.

Project leads will receive a fund and a programme manager for development support.

We are taking project proposals for 6 project leads (1 per theme) in the voluntary sector from 5th February – 29th February.

What’s the expectation for health inequalities project leads?

These projects must build on insight (from existing work with one of the above themes in the community) but we also expect you to propose a new approach to work and activity to engage people in welfare support and legal advice.

You must be prepared to engage other organisations in the delivery of this work at steering group meetings.

You must agree reporting requirements and accommodate external evaluation at the end of the project.

How to apply to be project lead

Register your interest by emailing communications@wandcareall.org.uk

We will be in touch with more information.

Want to hear about other funds and opportunities for voluntary sector organisations in Wandsworth? Join our mailing list.

Better mental health support for Mums in Wandsworth

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Having children is celebrated as a joyful time full of celebration, but for many, becoming a parent can be destabilising, lonely, and even life-threatening. MBRRACE’s recent report shows that 40% of all maternal deaths (occurring between six weeks and a year after the end of pregnancy) are from mental health related causes. Maternal suicide is the biggest cause of perinatal deaths.

At Wandsworth Care Alliance we’ve been doing health studies and talking to local community organisations to find out more about these issues since 2022. We aim to start a bigger conversation about mental health support for mums and birthing parents, connecting people with the support services they need. For the last 2 years we have been building a healthwatch report on the impact of perinatal mental health, and the way parents access mental health services during this time.

When we spoke to 13 birthing parents from ethnically diverse backgrounds, we found that many didn’t ask for help with their mental health. Issues included not feeling safe to open up with healthcare professionals, experiences of discrimination, and not knowing who to turn to.

Read the latest report

A range of factors affected parents during this time, like having a partner for support, having a positive relationship with maternity staff, and 50% of participants claimed that poor housing negatively affected their mental health.

What next?

There is local mental health support available for parents. However, we’re finding out that people might not know where to find it or how to access it.

Talking to the NHS about working together on discussing this issue as part of maternity services will be key over the coming months but there is also action we can take together to make sure that people know where to get support.

Here are 3 support links you can use or share with parents.

Family support

Little Village story

“When having a baby you need a lot of stuff,” Jen, the Tooting baby bank manager. Jen first found the baby bank Little Village when she was looking to donate items her child had grown out of. She started volunteering and fell in love with the cause.

Not everybody has everything they need as a parent and Little Village offers free support bundles to Mums in need, with clothes, toys, bassinets and more, available to be delivered, or picked out in their shop experience.

Little Village pride themselves in giving more than just things, with a creche, space to talk and a signposting team. They often hear shocking stories of adversity from local Mums. This Winter, they’ve had more emergency calls from St. George’s Hospital for Mums who can’t be discharged from hospital because they have nothing for the baby to wear or sleep in. Little Village always needs donations and volunteers to deliver this vital work.

Volunteer

Donate

Free Events & Support for Mums

  • Breathe Melodies know that mental health makes a difference and offer informal Mother and Child singing sessions which are a great way to build bonds and share culture too. Find out more
  • Enable offer free fitness classes for Mums every week
  • Estate Arts are holding a free Baby & Me morning on 3rd February with life support training
  • The NHS are promoting early learning and development activity ideas on the Better Start for Life website. Click here

Do you have more resources to share on this story for local Mums? Email communications@wandcareall.org.uk so we can feel each other’s support.

Farewell to our VSCS Manager, Julie Bristow

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We wanted to let you know that Julie Bristow, the Voluntary Sector Coordination Service Manager, who has run the VSCS since it started in 2020 is leaving WCA this week. 

Julie said: “I want to thank all the organisations within the voluntary and community sector for the support and engagement you have had with the VSCS over the last four years.  It has been a really enjoyable and rewarding experience working with and alongside you all and witnessing first-hand the incredible contribution you have made, and continue to make, to Wandsworth and its residents.  I am sure you will go from strength to strength and rest assured that the Voluntary Sector Coordination Service will continue to inform, connect and support you as you go forward into 2024.”

What is Kooth? The free mental health service for young people

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What is Kooth? 4 young people sat against a red background holding paper speech bubbles over their faces

What is Kooth?

Kooth is a free, safe, anonymous online mental health service for young people that is accessible 24/7, 365 days of the year and provides access to chat sessions with BACP-accredited counsellors and qualified emotional wellbeing practitioners.

All our chat sessions are text-based conversations that take place on the Kooth website, and last up to an hour. Chat is available from 12pm – 10pm Monday through Friday, and 6pm – 10pm Saturday and Sunday, providing a much needed ‘out of hours’ service.

Kooth is accessible from any device.

koothplc.com

Are you able to see all content on the site?

There are restrictions in place to ensure that when using Kooth, you only see what is age appropriate for you. This also helps us to ensure you find the content that is most useful to you.

Any comments are pre-moderated to ensure that only relevant comments are posted and visible.

Can you create content on Kooth?

You can submit content and post on the discussion boards to share your experiences and to support others within the Kooth community.

We also encourage you to give us feedback by sharing your views of how we deliver our service.

This will help us to keep improving Kooth.

Can you message other young people on Kooth?

The safety of our users on Kooth is really important to us.

Therefore, you cannot add friends or directly message other young people on the site in the same way you can on gaming platforms or social media sites.

This is because we are an anonymous service and we need to make sure everyone using the site is safe.

When can you talk to someone?

The Kooth team are available to chat 7 days a week, 365* days of the year. You can access the magazine, discussion boards and any other online content whenever you like, from wherever you are.

Our friendly online team are available to chat during the following times:

From 12 noon until 10pm weekdays.

From 6pm until 10pm weekends.

To make sure we can support as many of you as possible, we do have a chat queue.

How long you will have to wait in the chat queue depends on how busy the site is so please be patient with us.

You can send a message to the team at any time and it will be responded to during service working hours. Our counsellors are employed by us and are fully qualified with the BACP or equivalent.

Do you need to be referred by a GP?

You do not need to be referred to Kooth to access the service.

You are invited and welcome to join as long as you fall within the age of 10-25.

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