Supporting Mental Wellbeing

At FirstLight Trust we are incredibly fortunate working at grass roots level as we do.  Our cafe hubs situated throughout the UK (and with another 2 on the horizon) are a focus of conversation, laughter, and yes, problem solving.  Our customers and clients meet face to face over a tea or home made scone; they discuss the weather, what sort of day they are having, and often meet at the cafe hub as part of their weekly social activity.

Such opportunities and an ability to share and communicate with those around you is always an under-estimated component of mental wellbeing.

There simply is nothing like being able to go somewhere, be made to feel welcome, and know that someone sees you, hears you and listens.  Often nothing needs to be said; it is as if by 'voicing' your concerns half the problems disappear.

And that truly is where the work we carry out starts - with a conversation, and frequently those conversations lead to discovering what the problem really is.  And then by helping with that, confidence, wellbeing is improved - frequently through activities which provide the distraction and the companionship to assist with creating the solution (back to those conversations again!)

Take our model club for instance: they veterans talked about the benefits of model club and attending the FirstLight trust hub. One veteran stated. 'It keeps me sane having a weekly routine and reason to leave to the house'.

Another veteran stated he never realized how isolated he had become and coming to the hub for activities have opened new doors allowing him to learn to socialize again and feel comfortable around people.

One veteran stated he has learnt new skills which in turn has given him confidence to try new things that they have never thought of doing before; having the courage to get support on their finances and weekly budgeting.

The support you give us is so important and the ripple effect of enabling us to 'do' this work should not be underestimated; on family and community.   The cost of mental ill health is huge; societal, monetary, emotional, and physical.  With your donations and support for what we are doing, you are assisting us in being part of the solution - particularly when you consider that our cafe hubs supported over 20,000 veteran visits last year alone (and an equivalent if not greater number of non-veterans).