Trowbridge Service Users Group (A local community group) is today celebrating after being awarded £3600 in National Lottery funding to support its work in supporting those living with mental illness in Trowbridge.
The group, based in Seymour Rd, will use the money to provide free food and drink as well as specialist art and craft supplies.
Trowbridge Service Users Group has been running since 2018 and is staffed by Volunteers.
It was founded by Mark Marshall after being discharged from the mental health team without support after they declared they could no longer help or treatment.
Knowing he was not the only one in the situation and acknowledging that support networks help maintain good mental health, he set up a weekly drop in.
The group has since increased to four sessions a week (owing to popularity),which are free to attend and self refer to.
The sessions include a Monday evening social, which is a drop-in social session, a Tuesday Drop In which members attend and is designed as an introduction session for new members. On Thursdays it’s arts and craft sessions, where members can bring their own crafts or join in a project (or just sit and chat). Finally 1 to 1 sessions are offered as this gives members quick access to someone to chat to when facing difficulty and then they are supported with coping skills sessions or learning things such as meditation.
The sessions are designed to create connections and friendships with group members and volunteers taking part in external events, which then fosters’ community support.
The new funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes is the largest community funder in the UK. It will provide Trowbridge Service Group snacks and drinks across all sessions. It will also assist with materials for use in our arts and craft sessions, to produce gallery standard art for sale to then raise further funds for the group.
At the same time, the group will be able to continue to provide free support for those living with mental illness in and around Trowbridge, building a community of support and friendship.
Mark Marshall, founder of Trowbridge service users group, says: “We’re delighted that the National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery players we will be able to continue to provide free peer to peer mental health support as well as friendship in and around Trowbridge. This is important as it helps to remove the isolation created from living with poor mental health. Local access to mental health services are limited and they have a very long waiting list. For those without the resources to pay for private care or have no existing support options we try do what we can to help”.
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.
To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
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Contact
Mark Marshall, telephone number 07368 212583 or email: info@trowbridgeusersgroup.co.uk
Pictures are available upon request.
Notes to Editors:
About The National Lottery Community Fund
We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.
We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.
We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key Government programmes and initiatives.
As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:
1. Come together
2. Be environmentally sustainable
3. Help children and young people thrive
4. Enable people to live healthier lives.
Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
National Lottery players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK – the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.
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