Story & Photo:Amy Palmer
On Thursday 13th August I went down to the Vestry Hall to visit a new project – the Springboard Social Café.
I wasn’t sure what a ‘social café’ was or how it all worked but was quickly greeted by volunteers and introduced to Helen from SOAR who runs the sessions.
Springboard is a partnership project organised by SOAR and Mind designed to help people at risk of needing to use mental health services. They welcome people experiencing loneliness and isolation, or those facing challenges in their lives such as debt that can lead to stress and depression.
Rob Ellis from Mind explained that “it’s not just drinking tea” but about helping people to build resilience and solve the problems that can cause mental distress. Springboard is there to help people take care of their mental wellbeing, focussing on positivity and moving forward from problems that make us feel stuck in life.
Rob’s job and Mind’s part in this partnership is to train the volunteer ‘recovery coaches’ to provide one to one support to people attending the sessions.
The atmosphere was very relaxed and I arrived just after lunch which everyone had cooked and eaten together. The craft table was busily producing bird houses and jewellery boxes while having a chat. Earlier in the day they had been visited by the Drinkwise Agewell project to learn about healthy attitudes towards alcohol.
One participant said “it helps me feel connected with people and like I’m doing something positive”.
This is the 4th ‘Springboard’ social café to be set up in Sheffield and looks to be as successful as the ones that have inspired it.
The Springboard social cafes run fortnightly on a Thursday from 10am to 3pm at the Vestry Hall. You do not need to book and there is no charge, although you can donate towards lunch if you are able. For more details contact Helen Warren on 0114 213 4065 or email: