29th April 2021
Carlisle Vineyard Church received £4,332 from the NHS Winter Resilience Fund to support its Space to Talk project.
Emotional and practical support was offered to people in Carlisle who might be feeling the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic through Space to Talk events.
The weekly events, organised by Carlisle Vineyard Church in partnership with Carlisle City Council, NHS Primary Care Networks Carlisle Network & Carlisle Healthcare, are open to all, giving people the chance to discuss with experienced listeners the difficult situations they’ve found themselves in and be signposted to additional support if it is needed.
Miriam Lowe, Operations Manager said: “Each week throughout the funding period we have been able to engage with between 100-150 people during a 2-3 hour session. The conversations would often begin around a ‘Bag of Courage’ being given to the member of the public as they approached the space or walked past.”
The partnership has since developed a low-cost training model, written with the aim of being used by anyone, or in any setting, and be as simple as possible while meeting the aims of Spaces to Talk. It can be delivered without a trainer present, allowing for greater scope of use, accessibility and time required to participate. This offers the potential of increasing the scope of the support in other communities particularly in the rural towns and villages such as Brampton and Longtown and in smaller spaces such as local schools and university sites.