Mid Cheshire Mind's Winsford hub brings wellbeing to high street

Mid Cheshire Mind helps bereaved people and those looking to overcome other mental health obstacles by providing weekly drop-in sessions, one-to-one counselling, and signposting to other groups and services.

While Mid Cheshire Mind's wellbeing practitioners will still provide sessions in community settings across Mid Cheshire, interim CEO, Kate Boundy, says the new hub in the former Barclays Bank in Winsford Cross shopping centre will ‘provide a new launchpad from which the charity can grow’.

The building has undergone a huge refurbishment, which started in September and was complete by early December, and now looks ‘friendly, welcoming, and non-clinical’, Kate added.

The high sheriff of Cheshire, Dr Dennis Dunn, with his consort, Denise Dunn, officially opened Mind Cheshire Mind's new Winsford hub on December 12 (Image: Mid Cheshire Mind)

The hub was officially opened on Tuesday, December 12, by Cheshire’s high sheriff, Dr Dennis Dunn.

“We’ve so proud of how quickly we turned it around,” said Kate.

“We hope the high street hub will sweep away any stigma surrounding mental wellbeing, while at the same time, helping efforts to regenerate the town centre.

“No two Minds around the country are quite the same.

“We’re a federation of charities, with 106 independent members across all regions, and Mid Cheshire is the smallest in the UK.

“We provde an excellent bereavement service, called One for Sorrow.

“People affected by the loss of a loved one come along and access peer support and build friendships, and they can also have one-to-one counselling support if they need it.

“We also do wellbeing coaching as part of our core service. We support people’s mental wellbeing by signposting them to other services, referring them into our counselling, and getting them to join other groups and activities.

"We're seeing greater demand for our services at the moment than ever before. 

“We all have mental health to look after, as well as physical health, and huge strides have been made recently in people’s willingness to talk about thier wellbeing.

“We just want it to be a regular part of people’s daily lives.”

Kate said the official opening ceremony felt like a real celebration, drawing guests from across the region and even further afield.  

“The opening event was fantastic.

“We’re so grateful for the support of the high sheriff, Dr Dunn, and his wife and consort, Denise.

“It really was the icing on the cake to have them there.

“We welcomed a real cross section of people. We had service users, staff, volunteers, colleagues from national Mind, and friends from local businesses who’ve supported us.

“It was a great gathering, and really celebratory in tone.”