Published on: Tuesday 22 Feb 2022 at 15:02
Our Wellbeing Hub has attracted more than £5,000 funding to help us deliver a broad range of activities and improve the lives of local people living with a life-limiting illness.
The Beta Charitable Trust recently donated £2,500 to our Wellbeing Hub, and Active Essex has provided more than £3,000 towards the cost of running the Hub’s specialist clinics and groups.
The Wellbeing Hub is helping people to live well with life-limiting illnesses and maintain their independence. It offers a range of community education and networking events, therapeutic groups and specialist clinics. By attending and taking part, people can come to terms with their diagnosis, find out how to navigate health and social care systems, plan for their own care, create new support networks and make friends.
Shabnam Valji, of the Beta Charitable Trust, said: “The Beta Charitable Trust has always been very pleased to support the amazing work at St Clare Hospice. We are particularly delighted to continue our support with this contribution to their new Wellbeing Hub – which will help many hundreds of people with chronic illness every year, to cope and to live better with their conditions.”
New community education and networking events
We are using some of the new funding to launch a series of education events which will be run on the last Thursday of every month at the Hospice. The first of these events will be on Thursday 31st March, 1.30 – 3.30pm. This event will explore what hospice care is and how it can help people – especially if they receive an early referral.
Sally Muylders, our Community Engagement and Involvement Manager, will be delivering the first of these Wellbeing Hub education events. She says, “We want to break down the barriers that exist for people accessing Hospice care. We know that early involvement can help someone in so many ways. It’s not just about getting medical treatment for their conditions.”
Sally adds, “St Clare Hospice is helping people to build support networks around the life events that they are experiencing. By giving people opportunities to connect with others, and share their life-changing experiences, St Clare Hospice is helping to prevent loneliness and isolation at the end of life.”
The sessions are open to local people (including service users and carers) and gives them a chance to learn and meet others who are in similar circumstances. The Wellbeing Hub’s forthcoming programme of community education and networking events is as follows:
- Thursday 31st March: What is a hospice?
- Thursday 28th April: Wellbeing and self-care
- Thursday 26th May: Coping with change
- Thursday 30th June: Find out more about St Clare Hospice’s services
- Thursday 28th July: Planning for your future care
People can book their place on the 31st March event via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/what-is-hospice-care-tickets-267769113627
Helping people to live well for longer
Terry, from Harlow, has experienced the difference that the Wellbeing Hub can make. Terry, who has incurable lung-cancer, was invited to take part in one of the Wellbeing Hub’s first Living Well programmes. The course gave Terry the chance to open up and share his experiences, which is helping him to cope with what he’s going through.
“The course was very good,” recalls Terry. “It brought you out of yourself and let you talk about things that are on your mind. I don’t talk about these things with my wife or my family; I just don’t want to burden them with how I’m feeling. But I’ve met two friends now through being part of the Living Well programme. I can talk to them and they understand.”
The current Living Well programme started on 9th February and will be running for six weeks.
Contact our First Contact Service, on 01279 773774 for more information about how to access this 6-week course.