News and Events
Well Women Centre News - Issue 1 - 2009
Welcome to the very first issue of WWC News!
We hope to keep you up to date on current services, recent & potential future developments. We will publish issues quarterly, issue 2 due in September. We hope you enjoy reading it and welcome suggestions of wanted articles. Nichola Esmond, Centre Manager
Counselling
Counselling at Cheapside continues to prove invaluable to service users. We are working to full capacity with counselling every day & often all rooms are in use. After initial promotion in summer 08 the community sites continue to flourish and are now well established. We currently offer counselling at Cheapside, Airedale, Pontefract, Hemsworth & Featherstone. All sites have a 4 to 5 month waiting list.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is available at Cheapside. In brief CBT is a talking therapy which can be helpful with difficulties such as anxiety, depression, phobias and panic attacks. In times of emotional distress thoughts can become more negative which can make you feel worse and cause you to behave in ways which keep your problems going or make them worse. In CBT you will work with a therapist to begin to identify and change some of the unhelpful thoughts and behaviours which you may have. The style of therapy is very practical and problem solving. A key aspect of CBT is practising the strategies learnt in therapy between the weekly sessions. The approximate waiting time is 4 - 5 months.
Unplanned Pregnancy Counselling Within this service we can provide urgent support for women struggling with the dilemma this issue can bring. Women can attend up to 3 sessions in which we can offer support, information and refer on to other relevant services. We can also offer up to 12 fast tracked sessions for women who have had a termination within the last 12 months. Women may be referred through their GP, other services or they can self refer.
Complementary Therapies
We have a great team of therapists offering both full and low cost treatments. Appointments can usually be made within a week for anyone able to pay and low cost treatments are available for most of the therapies to women on benefits. Therapies offered include reiki, aromatherapy, homeopathy, hypnotherapy, reflexology, shiatsu, Chinese herbal medicine, kinesiology Alexander Technique, Indian Head massage,acupuncture, and chiropractic. We have gained renewed work from Carers together and Open House which is great news for the people they support.
We are taking aromatherapy, shiatsu, acupuncture and yoga to the women at New Hall prison and it continues to be a success. We are now reaching more of the most vulnerable women within the prison
Did you know;
70 % of women prisoners have 2 or more diagnosed mental health issues.
More than half of women in UK prisons say that they have suffered domestic violence
One in three have experienced sexual abuse.
Rates of self-harm or injury in women’s prisons rose 48% in recorded incidents between 2003 and 2007.
Source :
http://www.womeninprison.org.uk/statistics.php
Groups & Courses
We have had great success with the uptake of our courses recently. Basic Self Esteem, Anxiety Management & Depression courses have run at Cheapside, each being offered at least twice in the last year. The next Cheapside courses start in September.
Anxiety Management & Depression have also been offered at several community venues since last year. Basic Self Esteem is soon to be offered outreach . The uptake in the community has been good although, in contrast with Cheapside, retention of learners has proved variable; with some of the children‘s centres we have had low numbers completing the courses and at other centres the number of women attending has remained exceptional.
The Menopause Group
The first menopause course has been a great success with excellent feedback. A second course is imminent as soon as we have enough women interested so pass on the word to your friends and family!
The Eating Disorder Group is a closed group which runs weekly for 24 weeks. We will be interviewing women who are on our current list over the summer for a start date in September. The idea behind having a closed group, is that it enables trust to develop, which is beneficial when dealing with the issues around eating disorders. Anyone interested in coming to this group in September needs to contact Jan or Sandra at wwc as soon as possible for more information.
Recent & Future Developments
We are planning to find new, larger premises for the Well Women Centre, based in the city centre with good access by public transport and with good disabled access as well. The centre's services have expanded considerably in the last year or so, and with other new services being planned, we will be needing more space. When we find new premises, we will be running a focus group to get some input from our service users about the design and decoration of the new building. We will advertise the event at that time and you can put your name down if you are interested in being involved.
In January 2010 we will be working with Calderdale Women's Centre to set up a new service for women who are at risk of offending or who have already had contact with the Criminal Justice system. The service is called Evolve, and will provide 1-2-1 support, working with partner agencies to help find solutions to the many problems facing these women. The aim is to divert vulnerable women from custody.
Thank you to all who completed the orange questionnaires. We are currently processing the results and the findings will be used in consideration for decisions to be made regarding our involvement with the proposed IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Services) provision. We will keep you updated.
Volunteer Snapshot
“I am a volunteer at wwc and have been for four years. My first visit was as a service user coming to a drop-in session and having been grateful for the help I received at the session, I came back at a later date to do some training and start as a volunteer.
My main role is that of drop-in interviewer where I meet clients who are calling in for the first time. These are usually very busy sessions but in between clients I help with the general running of the office.
It is very rewarding work and I can’t imagine not being able to help local women and of course helping myself to gain more knowledge about life and what makes us all tick. We are a very caring group of volunteers-of the clients we see and of one and other. I would like to think that I have made life long friends at the centre and hope to be here for many years.”
Upcoming Events
We are planning a Birthday Bash to celebrate our 3 newest community counselling services’ 1st year. We are holding the party at Oakhill Children’s Centre, our venue at Featherstone on
16th July - 10am to 12pm
You are very welcome to drop in for a tea/ coffee and a bun, we’d love to see you there. Please refer to posters for further details.
Letters
“The Well Women Centre has come to me to be an oasis of peace & healing. I have been using the various services for over 8 months now and have always been met with kindness & respect. The one to one counselling service is helping me through a very difficult period in my life; it continues to be a safe place where I can be myself without judgement or expectation & I am always treated with patience & understanding while knowing confidentiality is kept.
I have attended support groups for depression & anxiety which were well run by empathic staff & enabled me to meet others with similar problems & so feel less isolated by them.
The complementary therapy (I am receiving reflexology) is just a joy, pure “me time”. As I am on certain benefits I just make a voluntary contribution towards my sessions enabling me to afford them.
The fact that the centre is run by women, for women is perhaps it’s greatest strength. There is a feeling of unity & intuitive understanding of what it is to be a woman in all its complexity. I just feel a little sorry for men, not having access to this wonderful service!”
(Anonymous service user)
We welcome your input and would love to publish your thoughts, or response to any of the featured articles, or perhaps some poetry for others to share. If you would like to submit a letter for the next issue of WWC News please hand it in to a member of staff or alternatively send it to our address
WWC News
Lisa Kaye
Well Women Centre
6 Cheapside
Wakefield WF1 2SD
Or email
Thanks for reading, Lisa
