Wandsworth Care Alliance

Women’s health workshop

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Experiences of Urdu-Speaking Sanctuary Seeking Women When Accessing Women’s Health Services in Wandsworth.

Through trauma-informed, community research, we aim to understand the specific impact that language barriers have on sanctuary seeking women when accessing women’s healthcare in Wandsworth.

January Pilot

We collaborated with a local voluntary sector organisation, Happy Homes Community, to involve 41 Urdu-speaking sanctuary seeking women in a research café. The findings and recommendations will be shared in our final report and zine.

March Workshop

We collaborated with Roehampton Wellbeing for Women and Children and Mindworks UK to involve 15 sanctuary seeking women in a workshop at the Manresa Clubroom to understand the way that language barriers have impacted their experiences of accessing women’s healthcare.

By collaborating with these key community partners, we were able to maintain a safe and familiar space that encouraged open conversations around women’s health. We were well supported by the interpretation offered by Asma Choudry and Sahar Beg who allowed for us to share important health information and hear the experiences of attendees.

We thank the women who attended and generously shared their personal stories around accessing women’s healthcare. Through group discussions, as well as a collage-making and creative writing session hosted by artist Asma Istwani (currently completing her residency with Culturally Mindful) we were able to gather insights about the particular challenges faced by refugee and asylum-seeking women in Wandsworth. These stories will be included in our final report but, more importantly, in our zine, which will be launched in early 2027!

Next Steps

  • We will host one more workshop involving at least 15 more sanctuary-seeking women in Wandsworth who speak various community languages, such as Somali.
  • Continue to circulate the survey amongst sanctuary seeking women, aiming to receive another 33 responses (40 in total)
  • Circulate the survey to women’s healthcare services to gather insights on their experiences providing support to sanctuary seeking women who do not speak English fluently
  • Host a community event launching a zine (a small, usually self-published, creative resource that aims to connect communities and empower readers and creators (Mixam, 2025) and disseminating findings with community organisations, council, NHS professionals, and Wandsworth residents
  • Produce resources reporting insights (report and zine)
  • Establish new community relationships through continued collaboration with local voluntary sector organisations to continue collecting stories and seeking funding to create new opportunities to support organisations which work with sanctuary seeking women.

Follow our Whatsapp Channel!

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We’re making it easier than ever to stay in the loop with Wandsworth Care Alliance’s latest updates.

Follow our channel ‘Wandsworth Care Alliance’ on Whatsapp! You’ll receive important information right to your phone! Perfect for keeping your community informed and for staying up to date with what’s going on in Wandsworth.

To access WhatsApp Channels, make sure you have the latest version of WhatsApp downloaded on your phone and go to the ‘updates’ tab at the bottom left-hand side of the screen. Make sure you tap the bell icon in the top right-hand corner of the screen to turn on notifications so you never miss an update.

Healthwatch Wandsworth Assembly – Your Community, Your Health – Help to develop neighbourhood health services that keep us well

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Tuesday 24th March 2026, 4-6pm at Wimbledon Common Care Home – Avery Collection

Health care leaders in South West London are looking to help people live well in local areas and reduce the need for care in hospitals. They aim to achieve this by improving the way services are delivered in every London neighbourhood, putting people and communities at the heart of care.

Join us for nibbles and drinks and to share your thoughts, raise your questions, meet with local organisations, hear what the community has told Healthwatch Wandsworth, and help us make sure the voice community is at the heart of new neighbourhood health services.

For people living and/or working in Wandsworth.

Secure your space here

Any access (including transport) or dietary requirements please email us at information@healthwatchwandsworth.co.uk

Please note we will be taking photographs at the event to use in our communications, if you do not wish to be photographed let us know at the event, thank you.

Sorry if you can’t make it this time, but sign up to be a member to hear about what happened at the event and to hear about the next one.

Full address for the venue:
Wimbledon Common Care Home – Avery Collection, 6 Victoria Dr, SW19 6AB, London.

Thrive LDN’s Great Mental Health Day 2026

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Thrive LDN is a public mental health partnership dedicated to helping all Londoners live happier, healthier lives by promoting wellbeing, reducing stigma around mental health, and connecting communities with support and resources. It brings together a range of partners to coordinate campaigns, training, suicide prevention initiatives, and free wellbeing resources across the capital.

One of Thrive LDN’s initiatives is Great Mental Health Day which is an annual awareness day that aims to get Londoners talking about mental health, celebrate support services available across the city, and challenge the stigma of reaching out for help. This year the day falls on Friday, 30th January, marking the fifth year the event has taken place.

Everyday Spaces

For 2026, Thrive LDN has chosen the theme of everyday spaces, informal, trusted locations where connection and support naturally happen. These could be community kitchens, local craft groups, sports pitches, neighbourhood parks or any welcoming space where people feel they belong. The idea is to highlight that support doesn’t always start in clinical settings; it often begins in the familiar corners of our everyday lives.

Get involved and share

Great Mental Health Day encourages Londoners to take part in events and activities across the city, either by attending local gatherings, hosting inclusive and free events, or using the hashtag #GreatMentalHealth on social media. Thrive LDN provides a supporter’s pack which you can access here. They provide an interactive map of local activities, and free training and webinars to help individuals and organisations get involved and support wellbeing in their communities.

Feedback from previous years highlights how the day has helped people start meaningful conversations, feel supported, and discover local services they hadn’t known about before emphasising the power of connection and shared experience in promoting mental health.

Upcoming wellbeing events

Wandsworth Borough Council has put together a list of Week of Wellbeing events taking place across the borough next week. The programme offers residents opportunities to take part in activities that support mental health, encourage connection, and promote positive wellbeing from workshops and walks to creative and community-based sessions.

Discover the events here.

Where to find support

If you or someone you know might need professional mental health help, there are several accessible services available. It is important to reach out and get help if you are experiencing feelings of anxiety, loneliness or depression. Support is available for whatever you are going through.

This link shares services that are available to residents in Wandsworth: https://www.wandsworth.gov.uk/health-and-social-care/public-health/your-health/mental-health/mental-health-services-in-wandsworth/

Urgent Support (Not Life-Threatening)

  • NHS 111: Call 111 or use their online service for urgent mental health advice.
  • Shout (Text): Text SHOUT to 85258 for free, confidential support anytime.
  • Samaritans: Call 116 123 (24/7, free) to talk to someone.
  • Crisis Resolution & Home Treatment Teams (CRHT): These NHS teams provide urgent care in the community.

Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR) Listening to what really matters report summary

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Institute for Voluntary Action Research (IVAR), November 2025 – Link to full report can be found here.

Listening to what really matters report explores how community-led insights especially from people with lived experience can shape better health and wellbeing outcomes across local areas. The report reflects on the Connecting Health Communities programme (2023–25), a partnership between IVAR, the National Lottery Community Fund and voluntary, community and statutory organisations in four areas: St Helens, Dudley, Cheshire East and Wandsworth.

Key points from the report included:

Partnerships change culture: The programme shows that when voluntary sector groups, residents and statutory partners work as equals, systems start to shift. Professionals learn to move away from transactional practice towards relational, inclusive approaches grounded in trust and dignity.

Approaches based on lived experience drive better outcomes: Each area focused on a different local challenge from loneliness and social isolation to preventative health screening demonstrating that local, community-led insight helps shape responses that are rooted in real need rather than assumptions about needs.

Increasing Cervical Screening Uptake: In Wandsworth, the programme focused on understanding why cervical screening rates were lower in parts of the borough, especially in areas with higher deprivation. By listening deeply to people’s experiences and barriers, partners were able to identify culturally-relevant, community-led responses that can support better access to preventative health checks.

Wandsworth Care Alliance’s Role

Wandsworth Care Alliance was proud to play a participating partner in this project supporting community insight gathering, helping facilitate local conversations and ensuring voices from across Wandsworth were part of the learning process. Through our work with local voluntary organisations, residents and health partners, we contributed to the collective commitment to change how local health and care systems listen and respond.

Our involvement helped:

  • Amplify community voices especially from groups under-represented in health conversations
  • Share insights with statutory partners to shape more responsive, culturally-aware practice
  • Build local capacity for community-led engagement and co-design of health services

This report shows that:
– Health and care systems work best when they are informed by lived experience
– Real partnership between community organisations, statutory partners and residents leads to more equitable outcomes
– Listening, not just consulting is essential for designing services that people trust and use

At Wandsworth Care Alliance, this approach reflects our ongoing commitment to amplifying local voices, deepening community engagement and championing partnerships that help shape better health, wellbeing and inclusion for everyone in the borough.

You can read the full report by IVAR here.

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