Together to deliver new Wellbeing Hub service in Lewisham
A new service providing free mental health support to people in Lewisham is now open. Together for Mental Wellbeing has opened its Lewisham Wellbeing Hub, funded by the Lewisham Health and Care Partnership including Lewisham Council and South East London Integrated Care System. The hub provides timely, targeted support to help people across diverse communities in Lewisham to manage their mental health.
It is open to anyone over 18 who lives in the London Borough of Lewisham who has experienced challenges with their mental health and who wants to improve their wellbeing.
The service will work alongside people in a variety of ways including providing 1-2-1 support for up to 10 weeks to tackle mental health or wellbeing challenges.
The hub will also run wellbeing workshops, drop-in support sessions, as well as providing advice and navigation income maximisation. Services can be accessed in a variety of ways, including through a central hub on Lewisham High Street as well as through pop-ups in community venues across the borough.
People will also be able to contact a Hub Helpline and benefit from peer support with volunteers with lived experience of mental distress who support others on a 1-2-1 basis and through peer support group workshops.
The hub will make it easier for Lewisham residents who have concerns or queries related to their wellbeing to access support. The team will offer information, guidance and advocacy, and empower residents to learn more about how to manage their own wellbeing through the delivery of psychoeducational and psychosocial programmes in the community. It will also help tackle isolation and loneliness by giving access to peer support and social activities as well as offering culturally appropriate support for residents, particularly those from an ethnic minority background.
The Lewisham Wellbeing Hub will help residents find their way around local services and opportunities through our Lewisham Wellbeing Hub Community Directory which will signpost people to specialist support in the area. Local partners for the Wellbeing Hub include Sydenham Garden, who will partner with the Hub and allow access to their gardens, nature reserve and activity rooms to help people in their recovery from mental and physical ill-health in Lewisham.
On the new Lewisham Wellbeing Hub, Together Director of Operations & Quality, Emma Edwards commented:
We’re thrilled to have been commissioned by Lewisham Council to provide community mental health support with our Lewisham Wellbeing Hub. As the UK’s oldest mental health charity having been established in 1879 we have a huge amount of expertise and experience and look forward to working alongside people living in Lewisham with our core principle of service user leadership and commitment to valuing lived experience. As we successfully run a similar Wellbeing Hub service in the borough of Southwark we’re excited to apply the knowledge we’ve gained there and also to learn from the people we will support while also collaborating with other specialist services in the area to provide rounded and person-centred support.
Councillor Paul Bell, Lewisham Council’s Cabinet Member for Health and Adult Social Care, said:
We’re making it easier for people to access mental health and wellbeing support at a critical time. We know that times have been tough, with the cost of living crisis and after effects of the COVID-19 pandemic making things feel even tougher than usual for many. By working with national and local partners, we’re doing what we can alongside existing healthcare partners to ensure that help is there for people who need it. I’d encourage anyone who is struggling or feels they need support to get in touch with the service so that they can be supported.
