BUTTERFLY EFFECT WELLBEING
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Mission Statement
The relief of those in need by way of mental health illnesses, loneliness, isolation or being at risk of suicide through: I. Establishing and maintaining a centre to promote emotional, physical and holistic well-being. Ii. Drop-in therapy sessions Iii. Peer support via groups, email and telephone. Iv. Food parcels, hygiene products, other essential items and services to meet a basic standard of living for individuals affected by mental health illnesses, their families and carers
About This Cause
Butterfly Effect Wellbeing is a non-judgemental charity that offers space to listen, accept, encourage and support. We have a centre to offer space daily, holding a variety of groups to help those with mental ill health, we also hold space for people that are suicidal or having suicidal thoughts. We started as a Facebook page with quotes etc that I used to send my mum, who suffered from mental illness after a psychotic break. It then turned into a physical space after losing her to suicide in June 2020. By using lived experience and working through life changing events and coming together to support each other in an informal peer support way the Harlow Butterfly Effect Wellbeing began. We set up as a CIC and are now as of 8th October 2024 a CIO. The management team is made up of the CEO, Facilities/ HR Manager and Project Manager who are responsible for securing funding and service delivery. We also have 5 trustees. A CEO of a local charity, a retired grants manager, a previous HR manager of 17 years, a finance officer and a public figure in Harlow. We are open to individuals and their carers for social and practical groups and advice services. Volunteers are on hand to help and guide people towards further groups if we cannot help in the first instance. All volunteers are trained in mental health first aid and have the basic knowledge to help people through a crisis. We work very closely with the social prescribers across all the GP practices in Harlow; the mental health team in the Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, the outpatient team at Latton Bush and the crisis team at Harlow hospital. We are also part of the ICB Suicide Prevention group and have a close relationship with the local MIND group who refer into us. There is a local substance misuse rehab centre and a recovery group that we also work very closely with, as well as Streets to Homes, who provide homes and guidance for the homeless. We support our users, local communities and organisations facing difficulties and challenges with mental ill health and suicidal ideation. We particularly work very closely with the local mental health team, both in and outpatient’s, to help support people in the earlier stages of mental ill health, so it does not escalate and see them needing to be admitted to NHS provision. There is currently nothing comparable to the service that we offer in Harlow and since opening our doors, our numbers have increased to supporting over 100 service users across our provision. We have helped just over 80 people through suicidal thoughts since opening the new centre December 2023. As quite a new charity and having been boosted with our lovely building as seen on BBC's DIY SOS December 2023, we have gone from a small porta cabin to quite a big and busy establishment. We are looking to increase our main staffing hours to full time, so this offers better structure overall at our groups. We are hoping to gradually increase our hours so we will eventually be open 7 days a week from 8am to 8.30pm, offering breakfast, lunch and dinner clubs with food. As we have seen a link between mental illness and nutritional intake. We have seen the need for this from our users. We are the only charity that is offering this service. We have seen a significant change in the users that use the service and the needs that are not being met locally. We are always monitoring and asking the groups what they need from us and collecting the data. We have a very extensive training program and policies in place. Staff and volunteers are trained on the 2-day mental health first aid course, suicide awareness and we signpost if the users are not suitable to our groups, so they then get the help they need, or perhaps additional help. We have a wellbeing scheme in place for staff and volunteers, we also recently won a small business workplace wellbeing award and the high sheriff award. Butterfly Effect Wellbeing's purpose is to prevent suicide by supporting members of the Harlow community experiencing poor mental ill health. Additional funding will enable us to achieve this by introducing additional and enhanced services including • One to one Support. • Group Work• Telephone help and advice. • Local pickups for those that struggle to leave the house. • Volunteer opportunities, to help people get back into work. • Drop ins. • Premade food, to take away, when having low mood and not able to cook. • Referring patients to the most appropriate service. • Working in partnership with health, social care and community mental health teams. 3 members of staff/volunteers have lost someone very close to suicide and also have suffered from depression and/or anxiety. We are the only centre in Harlow that offers this service and since opening our doors we have seen a big increase on the number of users. Most of the volunteers have had lived experience of depression, anxiety or had suicidal thoughts. We are well known in the local area, which has helped us have a great relationship with all the relevant key people locally and they also now refer into us. We believe that everyone suffering from mental ill health, isolation and suicidal ideation, can benefit from our services and we strive to create a warm and welcoming atmosphere that supports your personal individual journey to better mental health. Our full programme for service users and carers can be found at www.butterflywellbeingeffect.com. In addition, we offer a programme of holistic and mindfulness sessions including yoga, reflexology, holistic therapies, drumming, meditation, gong baths, calm and sleep clinics and shakti that is available to the public. The funds from these sessions are used to support the provision of free and partially funded social and support groups to service users and carers. We also have outside groups using the centre, which include Andys Man club and SOBS (survivors of bereavement by suicide). The funding will enable us to increase the hours we are open in our community space to make it more inclusive, bigger and better, meaning that we can welcome even more people to our space. We will be able to future-proof our work and continue to offer our services long into the future, with our 20-year lease on the building. It will enable us to expand and help so many more people in the community. The combination of project works outlined will all contribute to improving the quality of service that we offer to all local people that use our space. Examples of activities can be found on our social media paged including Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok. We can provide case studies from service users and referring partners if required.