Although the building has served us well, changing circumstances have led us to look for a new home for our family support charity. With the majority of referrals coming from the other side of the borough to where we’re based, our impending move is an opportunity to get closer to the communities that need our support.
Consulting our community
Once we knew relocation was on the cards, our first step was to ask the young people that rely on us what they want from local mental health services. Earlier this year we consulted just shy of 2,100 young people. They told us they wanted a safe place to meet and socialise with friends, a space where they feel comfortable talking to counsellors and can freely access family planning services and parental support.
With our research complete, we began our search for a new home.
Strengthening ties with Wigan & Leigh College
When details of space at Wigan and Leigh College Adult learning building landed in our inbox, we had a good feeling it would become our new home. Wigan & Leigh College is one of our biggest thus enabling us to strengthen our relationships with their teaching staff and students. It’s also closer to many of our service users making counselling and advocacy services even more accessible to the communities we serve.
From October 2020, we’ll take over the first floor of the building, which has a large community room, café and meeting space, seven counselling rooms, offices, and is fully accessible. The space will allow us to deliver everything our users have told us they want. The fit-out is currently under way and to say we’re excited is an understatement!
Community benefits
As well as our regular programme of counselling, advocacy and young parents support, the Wigan borough will also benefit from:
- An on-site café open to everyone. It will be a safe place for young people to meet friends and professionals to hold informal meetings. Free Wi-Fi and phone charging points will be installed for convenience.
- Better access to CAMHS workers for young people, parents and teachers.
- Additional family planning and parental support services.
- A meeting and event space for up to 60 people, which will be freely available to local non-profit community groups and organisations (see below for details of how to access).
Benefits for our team
The entire Family Welfare team is incredibly excited to move into the new building next month. We’re looking forward to the modern facilities and accommodation and the improved working environment this will provide. Welcoming more professionals into the building allows us to expand our knowledge and learn from each other to better serve the community. Additional meeting rooms mean our counsellors and advocates can see more people, as well as undertake training and development on site.
We want to hear from community groups
If you represent a local community group and are interested in using our meeting and events space, we’d love to hear from you at admin@wiganfamilywelfare.co.uk.
We want to see our new home being used to provide fun play, arts and crafts activities for parents and children, support and therapy for the bereaved, vulnerable and socially isolated, mental health services, and to give a boost to volunteers with a passion for their field.
Stuart Parsons, Chief Officer, Wigan Welfare says,
“This move represents a new era for Family Welfare. Our current home has served us well for the last 10 years, but it’s now time for us to take this exciting and innovative step, which will bring so many important benefits to the communities we serve.
I’m delighted we’ll soon be in a position to deliver facilities and services the young people of Wigan & Leigh has asked us for.”
Further updates to follow
Keep an eye on our website and social feeds to keep up to date on all the latest building developments. We’ll notify all service users and stakeholders as soon as we know our moving date.