Supporting young people’s wellbeing is a key strand of Family Welfare’s work. Through counselling and advocacy, our team help children through a range of issues from coping with anxiety and trauma to anger management and bereavement.
Our new home in the Leigh Adult Learning Centre provides us with opportunities to expand our range of support services for young people. The building has a number of event spaces, which are all available for hire by local community groups at reasonable rates.
We want every section of the community to use our building and get involved in activities. It’s great to see several partner organisations already using these rooms for their youth groups. You can read more about them and how to get involved below.
Heart Communities Arts Group
Heart Communities is an arts education and wellbeing group based at Spinners Mill in Leigh. On Monday evenings between 4-7pm, 15 young people are embarking on a 10-week course on stop frame animation using just mobile phones. If you’ve ever watched Wallace & Gromit and wondered what it takes to create your own animated film, the first activity in this group could be for you.
Contact heartcommunitiescic@gmail.com or follow @heartcommunitiescic on Facebook and @HeartComCIC on twitter for more information.
Global Friends
Representing young people in the BAME community, Global Friends meets every Tuesday from 4.30-6.30pm. Run by Everything Human Rights, the group supports young people aged between 11 and 17 whose families have come to live in the borough from countries all over the world.
Global Friends promotes diversity and inclusion and brings together young people from different cultures and backgrounds to learn, collaborate and make friends. Activities are designed to support young people from migrant ethnic minorities living in Wigan and Leigh to integrate into their communities.
Email reachout@ehrcg.org.uk or follow @RightsCommunity on twitter and Facebook for details.
Youth Steering Group
On Wednesday evenings, our young people’s mental health steering group meet to plan and organise their monthly activities and celebrate their achievements. The group is led by our Family Welfare Youth Worker, Dan Zahler. Read more about their work here.
We currently have one opening for a young person to join our steering group. If you’re interested in helping to shape activities for young people across Wigan and Leigh, Dan would love to hear from you on 07917 307357 or dzahler@familywelfare.co.uk.
Wigan Care Leavers
Run by Wigan Council, Wigan Care Leavers is a support group for young people who are leaving care and taking steps to live independently. They hold regular meetings in our Comfort Cafe to form friendships, access support to develop relationships, and learn skills to help them in their new circumstances.
As you can see, there are plenty of activities for young people taking place in Wigan and Leigh – with lots more to come. Our aim is to create safe spaces for young people in every section of the community. We’d love for every room in our building to be used by local groups every weekday afternoon and evening with a range of activities to support the mental health and wellbeing of younger people.
Are you interested in using our meeting rooms or Comfort Cafe for your local group?
Room hire is free for registered local family and children’s charities. Other groups are welcome to hire space for a small charge. All proceeds raised go back into funding more activities for young people in the community.
You can hire our Community Room for £15 per hour and the small meeting room for just £10 per hour. The Community Room has a capacity of 35 and the small meeting room seats up to 15. View full details and booking information for all our rooms on our website contact us on admin@familywelfare.co.uk