Liverpool’s public health team identified mental wellbeing as a key priority this year amid signs of an increase in problems, including a rise in the number of suicides locally.
Liverpool’s public health team has set aside £500,000 of funding to invest in small community groups that are supporting people with their mental wellbeing.
The money is being used for a wide range of projects, including workshops, groups sessions and even comedy and cycling-based schemes.
The seven strands to the work
Liverpool’s public health team identified mental wellbeing as a key priority this year amid signs of an increase in problems, including a rise in the number of suicides locally.
It is investing COVID-19 recovery funds to pilot new ways of working with a strong focus on prevention and resilience building. There are a number of key strands to the work covering perinatal support, early years, schools, the community, working with vulnerable families and domestic abuse.
Much of the work across these six strands involves statutory services run either by the council or local NHS. So, to ensure a greater reach into communities, the seventh strand involves a close partnership with voluntary and community sector. The grants scheme that has been established has been aimed at small organisations with turnovers of less than £750,000.
To avoid duplication with the other strands, four priority themes were established for these grants – mental health promotion in youth settings outside education, financial insecurity and debt, loneliness in vulnerable groups and bereavement support.
Guidance packs were produced and funding workshops organised over the summer and early autumn to support these organisations in partnership with Liverpool Charity and Voluntary Services (LCVS), the umbrella group for the sector.
Advanced Public Health Practitioner Ian Canning said: “We were purposefully looking to engage the smaller community organisations. They have a crucial role to play in reaching out into communities particularly across these four themes.
“These groups have a rich amount of knowledge and lived experience, but all too often their role and input can be overlooked. We know they have been overwhelmed with people coming to them for help – the funding will help them deal with that.
“Not everyone wants to come to the statutory services – some find those routes and services too formal or don’t trust them or are put off by the waiting times. These community groups will play a valuable role in meeting that demand.”
How art and laughter are helping
The grants were awarded in November by a multi-agency panel, involving public health, the city’s clinical commissioning group, HealthWatch, social care and LCVS. Nineteen organisations received between £15,000 to £30,000. The investment has been structured so half is given upfront and the rest throughout the year provided they demonstrate sufficient results.
LCVS Chief Executive Clare White said the projects should make a “huge difference to the lives of a significant number of people”. “We were overwhelmed with the amount of interest in the funding and it was hugely oversubscribed. It was a really difficult process for the awards panel to choose the winning bids. The successful projects are of a really high quality and will provide a wide range of support, helping improve the mental health of people across Liverpool.”
The projects funded include counselling and therapy sessions for people of a wide range of ages and cultural backgrounds, including workshops, groups sessions and the use of art, laughter and cycling.
For example, the Al-Ghazali Centre is running a series of workshops and activities for young people aged 12 to 18 from different culture, while Granby Somali Women’s Group has been funded to organise a project to combat loneliness among older people in the community.
A cycling club has also been given money to work with men and the Comedy Trust is running bereavement support workshops, drop-ins and discussion groups.
There are dedicated projects aimed at people with autism and ADHD too, including yoga and meditation sessions. And a law and information centre is being funded to provide free legal advice to those who have suffered bereavement.
The plans for the future
This is not the only part of the work that involves the community and voluntary sector. A grants scheme for large organisations with turnovers of over £750,000 is being launched, while bids for funding are also being encouraged under the other themes for groups involved in parental mental health, tackling social isolation and marginalised groups such as refugees and asylum seekers.
The aim is to take what is learnt and what works over the next year and incorporate it into a new Public Health Integrated Wellness Service which will also include the existing social prescribing services.
Councillor Frazer Lake, Cabinet Member for Public Health, said: “The pandemic has unquestionably had a detrimental effect on mental health and wellbeing in our communities.
Having good mental health and wellbeing makes it easier to deal with the different physical and mental stresses and problems in life.
“It also supports our ability to fulfil our ambitions and dreams, to be more confident, have good relationships with other people and cope with life’s up and downs.”
Contact details
Ian Canning, Advanced Public Health Practitioner, Liverpool City Council