Posted on January 17, 2023 by The Cellar Trust

Impact Report 2021-22

Impact Report

December 2022

The Cellar Trust has released its annual Impact Report 2021-22 detailing how the organisation helped those that needed mental health support. The range of client needs that we support is wide and varied, therefore, so are our services.

View the Impact Report here

We supported 7,798 people in 2021-22 to address the challenges they faced with their mental health, through one of more of our services.

We are a 100+ strong team now and our aim is simple. We are working towards a future where good mental health and wellbeing is prevalent across the Bradford District and beyond.

Haven funding came to an end in June 2022, but we were successful in our joint bid for the Safe Spaces contract with Mind in Bradford, which builds upon our strengths and successes and works with partner organisations to deliver support across our communities.

Our Pathways to Employment service met an increased demand from people furthest from the job market, with severe or enduring mental health problems and regular periods of crisis. These clients typically experience multiple barriers to work.

January 2022 saw the launch of HOPE. Delivering one-to-one peer support in 6 or 12 week blocks, for clients who frequently attend urgent care services or have a history of trauma. “The support has been invaluable and genuine, I feel like I finally have some fight back within myself.”

As well as our staff, we trained 210 people to be peer support workers through our OCN Level 3 accredited Peer Support training. We further developed our offering and now deliver Peer Support supervision on an external, consultancy basis.

Kim Shutler, CEO at the Cellar Trust, said: “It has been another busy and challenging year for The Cellar Trust. Of course, even as I write, we know that Covid has not gone away. We face ongoing and new pressures, both for the organisation and the people we serve, in the external environment including the cost-of-living crisis. It has impacted on all of us in different ways… all in the same storm, not all in the same boat.

This has meant that we have had to navigate returning to a new version of ‘business as usual’, with the difficulties and benefits of hybrid working, increased demand on our services at the same time as implementing some big changes and fabulous new provisions. It also means that we move ahead, after a very tiring two years into a period which will continue to test our resilience. I say though, with great pride, that our team are exceptional when it comes to weathering the storm and we move into the coming months as a strong organisation with a brilliant values-driven culture. These things make all the difference in challenging times.”

Our CEO Kim Shutler was identified as a Charity Times Top 20 Pandemic Pioneer and awarded an MBE for Services to Mental Health in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours 2021.

The Cellar Trust won the Locality Transforming Lives Award in 2021 for our response to COVID.

As an organisation we believe strongly that we can sustainably impact on the mental health of people in our communities both through direct service delivery, and through using our experience to influence wider service design, policy and strategy.

View the Impact Report here

Posted on December 16, 2022 by The Cellar Trust

Safe Spaces partners with West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police can now refer Bradford residents to Safe Spaces for urgent support

West Yorkshire Police who are called to help people in mental distress in the Bradford District area, can now refer people to Safe Spaces.

Anyone aged seven and over living in Bradford District and Craven who is experiencing mental health distress can access Safe Spaces (individuals don’t need to go through West Yorkshire Police). To access this service, call First Response on 0800 952 1181 (24 hour helpline) and ask for ‘Safe Spaces’.

As part of the Safe Spaces service offer there are local hubs and drop-ins, and an overnight service for children and young people, which replaced Sanctuary and Haven and the existing overnight children’s space. Support provided at Safe Spaces is calm, non-clinical and staffed by crisis support workers from noon to 2.30am every day.

The Cellar Trust and Mind in Bradford, commissioned by Bradford District Health and Care Partnership to deliver Safe Spaces, are working together to deliver Safe Spaces. Both organisations have been working alongside PC Jodie Duane, West Yorkshire Police Mental Health Engagement Officer for the Bradford District, to create a police referral pathway that is quick to access.

Heather Butcher, Safe Spaces Programme Director, Mind in Bradford, said: “Our work with colleagues at West Yorkshire Police means that they can now bring people directly to our Safe Spaces in Bradford or Keighley. The hope with this work is that people within the Bradford District and Craven will be able to access a calm space and will get quicker and more appropriate support when they are struggling.’’

PC Jodie Duane, West Yorkshire Police, said: “Police officers are getting reports of people in mental health crisis on a daily basis. We want to provide the best service possible when a person is at their lowest. This referral pathway gives frontline officers an opportunity to seek immediate support for that person, which has not been an option before.”

Iain MacBeath, Strategic Director for Health and Wellbeing at Bradford Council and Director of Integration for Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s fantastic to see how West Yorkshire Police can now make referrals to Safe Spaces, this means the individual will get the support they require within their community rather than a hospital setting. Safe Spaces is there for individuals who are in distress, this includes severe anxiety and/or panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, or intense depression.”

Inspector Osman Khan from the Stronger Communities Team has described the initiative as ground-breaking. “This partnership approach will be highly effective in addressing complex issues and will help build stronger relationships between organisations and individuals, leading to better outcomes for all involved.”

Posted on November 16, 2022 by The Cellar Trust

Inter Faith Week

Written by Ali, Volunteer Coordinator, The Cellar Trust

Spending my whole life in Bradford as a second generation British born Muslim of Pakistani heritage has influenced and shaped me into the person I am today, however the broader cultural heritage of this city and diverse communities are part of the wider influences of my life. Reflecting on these influences during Inter Faith Week seems fitting to celebrate the work of faith and interfaith groups.

My earliest memories of faith at home were of the Quran that sat high on our cupboard in my childhood home. I remember the care and etiquette that my dad exercised when he took it out to read. As a child I had little understanding of what this book was, all I knew was that it was important. Growing up I started to understand things better, learning that Quran is the word of God, knowing it to be an ocean of science history and stories. It is a vehicle for one to learn and reflect as well as to attain benefits of the mind and soul.

School was a gateway into other worlds and understanding different faiths. I remember the excitement going to school knowing that the day was going to be fun because it wasn’t just schoolwork; religious events meant fun. Learning about the Hindu festival of Holi or the celebration of Easter involved colours, costumes and food. If a by-product of all that fun was learning about the stories, values and important lessons of those religious events then it was a bonus. Nothing could compare to the fanfare and excitement of Christmas though; the full class would be decorated, cards would be exchanged, and sweets, cakes and crisps were always on the menu for the school Christmas party. The highlight in primary was playing one of the wise men in the school play and this taught me the important lessons of selflessness and humility of Jesus through the story of the nativity.

My own faith has been a large influence in my personal development as well as my moral and social stranding in life. Being there for friends and family, observing patience and gratitude, and giving charity are values that I practice, and their origin has been from my faith, but it wouldn’t be fair to say that my faith was the only factor. I am humbled when I say that I have learnt some significant lessons in life from those of other faiths or not faith at all. The basic premise of being just, harmonious and respectful are there to Increase understanding between mankind.

All faiths in some way shape or form promote giving counsel, guidance or advice to others through true altruism, and this sits at their foundations. Working in the mental health sector ties in with my faith values and it is this faith that underpins and helps the work to promote improvements and encourage better outcomes for people in their recovery. I feel blessed in every sense of the word!!!

INTER FAITH WEEK
13-20 November 2022

Each year, Inter Faith Week begins on Remembrance Sunday, and runs until the following Sunday. It is hoped that the additional Sunday provides the opportunity for other weekend events to take place as well as those linked to Remembrance Sunday. Remembrance Sunday was chosen as a start day to encourage people to remember together the contributions of all faiths and none, and to consider how best to create a just, peaceful, and harmonious world.

Aims:

Strengthen good inter faith relations at all levels
Increase awareness of the different and distinct faith communities in the UK, in particular celebrating and building on the contribution which their members make to their neighbourhoods and to wider society
Increase understanding between people of religious and non-religious beliefs