OPEN DAY – MONDAY 23RD JANUARY 11 AM – 4 PM
From Melanie Costas of Rural Mental Health Matters:
“I am very pleased to tell you that Rural Mental Health Matters (RMHM) has acquired a **temporary office space at 1 Abbey Walk, Shaftesbury, SP7 8BJ. It is a detached house and we have use of the entire house! This prime, central location in Shaftesbury, is next door to Steps to Wellbeing, and round the corner from Westminster Memorial Hospital.
This fantastic space will allow us to encourage statutory and non statutory (VCSE) organisations who provide a whole range of Dorset wide support/services, and help them provide a more equitable offering to those living in the rural north of the county.
Organisations are being invited, who do not have a ‘base’ in the north, to run a ‘pop up’ support/outreach in the office. This is a really great opportunity to reach more people, that they may otherwise struggle to reach, being based in the larger towns, mostly in the south of Dorset, many miles and hours away via public transport.
Anyone who provides any sort of wellbeing support or activities, holistic therapy, advice or signposting services, as well as those who provide mental health support are welcome to get in touch by emailing rmhm_ruralmentalhealthmatters@
I anticipate that the new Rural Community Wellbeing Centre will be open to the public, 7 days a week, pending volunteer support. This is in addition to Socially Connecting Shaftesbury, our outreach service that runs on the last Wednesday of each month, at Shaftesbury Town Hall
Free refreshments will be available and the public will be able to pop in anytime during our opening hours. RMHM is planning to ‘open’ on 16th January. We need volunteers urgently otherwise we can’t open! Please get in touch ASAP, email rmhm_ruralmentalhealthmatters@outlook.com or text RMHM followed by your message to 07834 787439.”
**temporary office space, let to RMHM by Friends of Westminster Memorial Hospital (who own the property) will be handed over to Dorset Healthcare, anticipated in Spring 2023, and will be refurbished to accommodate NHS run mental health support. Ideally RMHM would like a permanent base in the house once work is completed but will be looking for somewhere else in a central location to move to if this isn’t possible. If you can help us find a permanent site then please get in touch.
