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During Mental Health Awareness Week, we’re shining a light on something that sits at the heart of our work at P3 Charity: mental health. Every day, we work alongside people facing challenges such as homelessness, crisis, trauma, social isolation and substance misuse. Behind every situation is a person whose mental wellbeing plays a vital role in how they move forward.
In our sector, mental health isn’t just one part of the work we do, it shapes how and why we do it. Often, supporting someone’s wellbeing can be the first step towards stability, connection and rebuilding confidence. That’s why our services are designed around approaches such as Psychologically Informed Environments (PIE) and Trauma-Informed Care (TIC). These approaches help us create spaces where people feel safe, understood and respected. By recognising the impact that life experiences can have, we support people at their own pace to help them rebuild trust, develop coping strategies and move towards the goals that matter to them.
Throughout this article, we’ll hear from people accessing support through BeWell’s weekly craft group held every Wednesday at P3’s Ripley Hub – a space where people can connect, learn new skills and build confidence alongside others.
This week offers a glimpse into the many ways mental health support can look in practice, from one-to-one guidance to community activities that help people feel less alone.
When someone is experiencing homelessness or instability, their mental health can be deeply affected. Equally, poor mental health can make it harder to maintain housing, relationships or employment. At P3, we recognise that these challenges are connected and often cyclical. This is why our approach remains the same, regardless of whether we’re delivering homelessness support, mental health support or family services.
Our teams focus on:
By prioritising mental wellbeing, we help people feel heard by putting what matters to them at the front of their support. That’s why PIE and TIC are embedded across all our services so the people we support can build practical skills whilst strengthening or rebuilding their mental health. In practice, this manifests itself in teams who reflect and learn together to deliver support that is tailored individually through mutual trust and understanding.
Across our services, mental health support can take many forms. While it plays an important role in how we deliver support across all our services, we also have dedicated mental health support services, where we help people with independent living or navigate times of crisis.
One example of this approach in practice is our P3 BeWell service in Derbyshire, which supports people experiencing challenges with their mental health. As a community support service, BeWell focuses on connecting people with local groups and reducing social isolation through activities and trips.
As well as providing a mixture of short-term and longer-term intensive support plans for people who may be struggling with their mental health, P3’s BeWell Service offers community groups to help people manage difficult periods in their lives through socialisation.
This can include creating a safe and supportive space where people can talk, build coping strategies and have access to ongoing support. One of the most popular activities is the craft group, ran by Donna Madeley.
Donna, a Wellbeing Worker for P3, says, “We sort of decided on creating a craft group in between team meetings as we wanted something where we could bring people together a bit more regularly whilst still doing something fun.
“We started doing trips out – but you can’t do that every week – and we noticed how much the people we support were enjoying time together. So many of the people we work with have now made friends and actually do things together outside of their support. For example, two of the people who attend the group now go together to doctors and optician appointments. We can see the massive change in confidence and self-belief.”
With the aim of tackling social isolation, the group meets once a week in conjunction with other social groups and support sessions delivered by P3.
Donna says, “I absolutely love doing crafts, and so do the people who attend! We’ve noticed that as people attend, they grow with confidence and learn skills that they can then apply to their support plan.
“We often do grounding doodles which can help people tackle difficult conversations, we’ve seen people do them through PIP assessments and doctor appointments.
“I can see that positive change, so can other specialists that we work with. We focus so strongly on mental health, that wellbeing is factored into every aspect of support even through these groups.
“We have such a good team, everyone has a talent that we incorporate to do something different with the people here. Mine is crafts! [The group] is a place where people can just come to enjoy themselves and learn a new talent.”
More than just a craft session, this group is a place where people feel seen, supported and inspired to take the next step forward. Our aim is to help people feel more in control of their wellbeing and to prevent challenges from escalating into crisis wherever possible.
This starts with community.
Working alongside local partners to make sure people access the right support, the BeWell team can signpost and take referrals to/from a range of services, working flexibly with each person to understand their needs and goals.
P3 support workers provide one-to-one support, wellbeing planning and guidance to help people connect with wider community resources. This joined-up approach helps people build confidence and maintain their wellbeing over time.
With a smile that lights up the room, Sharon and her friends attend BeWell’s weekly craft group to socialise, catch-up and be creative.
Sharon started her wellbeing support with P3 with the goal of rebuilding her confidence and independence following a life-changing brain injury.
After the accident, everyday tasks became challenging and things she once loved –like creating art – felt out of reach. With the right support, she has been taking steady steps forward, rediscovering her confidence and finding new ways to reconnect with the things that matter to her.
Sharon starts by explaining a little bit about the lead up to her brain injury. She says, “Well, I guess it started when I lost a lot of blood after an operation I had when I was 31, I died as I only had a pint of blood left and they had to resuscitate me. Which caused brain damage.
“Because of this my short-term memory was damaged so I had to retrain my brain. But I still went back to work, I was a single mum with three children, so life didn’t stop. But then as I went into a new career, I ended up having two accidents within a year of each other.
“One was a vehicle accident, where somebody drove into our van and that damaged my neck muscles, but they didn’t scan my brain. Then just under a year later I was working at a hotel, and I had another accident there. So basically, the accumulation of all these accidents impacted on my brain again.”
Despite everyday challenges, Sharon is clear that the P3 BeWell team have had a huge impact on her life and wellbeing.
She says, “The team have been amazing, they help me to go out and they help me when I’m struggling with anxiety. Last week I couldn’t get a pint of milk from the shop because my anxiety took over, so they helped me out.
“Going out with my support workers and coming to groups like [the craft group] really help. I feel like I can move forward.
Sharon reflects on her time with her support workers, saying: “People shouldn’t underestimate the importance of the support and all the things that support workers do, I mean, they do so much.
“It’s a service that really deserves credit because it’s the difference between being completely and utterly isolated and wanting to give up to having a life. My mental health practitioner has said that I have changed so much since I’ve had this support.”
It’s clear that the group has become an important part of Sharon’s week, a space where she feels comfortable and supported to be herself again. What started as a small step back into creativity has grown into something much more: rebuilding confidence, reconnecting with others and finding joy in the things she once loved.
Through services like BeWell, we provide the right support at the right time helping people feel supported, understood and better equipped to manage their mental health. But support like this is only possible through strong partnerships and continued investment in community wellbeing. By working together, we can ensure that more people have access to safe, compassionate support when they need it most.
If you’d like to learn more about our work, partner with us or support services like BeWell, get in touch with us using the button below.
