“We hope this centre can be a wee escape for when life gets so overwhelming”
Members of a community wellness programme in West Belfast are taking on a huge challenge of walking 100km in 24 hours to raise funds for a new community therapeutic centre.
Change Wellness Programme currently operates from Conway Mill, where it offers services supporting and training the physical, mental, spiritual and emotional wellbeing of members.
On Saturday, August 2 at 11am, around 100 members of the group as well as family and friends will take part in a huge walk across all corners of the city as part of a fundraising bid to raise £10,000 for a new community centre.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Thomas Walls from Change Wellness said the new therapeutic centre would support the work already being done by various community organisations, by compiling multiple services under one roof.
He said: “We operate within our community in partnership with groups like Poleglass Community Association at Sally Gardens who offer these type of treatments too. We want to bring an additional space to the area to support what these fantastic community organisations are already doing, but a lack of resources and funding minimisies the impact these organisations can have.
“Our idea was to build our own centre, we have members who are qualified as reflexologists, masseurs, accupuncturists, and other types of holistic therapies. We’re hoping a community therapeutic centre could help improve access to those services.
“We’re looking to enhance, uplift, and work with the community as a whole, so people don’t have to go to one place to get treated for their mental wellbeing and another place to train for their physical wellbeing. We see people as an individual, it’s about working with people holistically and helping them become better versions of themselves.”
Thomas hopes the new centre, which would offer services such as drop-in therapies, community care days, and chances for programme graduates to deliver services could empower people to care for themselves holistically.
He said: “From my experience, I know some people don’t have the confidence to engage in these things, even though they’re most in need. So having access to this service locally may break down a barrier.
“It’s going to break the taboo, people are struggling with their mental wellbeing and many people who struggle don’t ask for help because they don’t know what help looks like, and they don’t know where to go for it.
“We hope having these services under one roof will help people prioritise their own health and wellbeing, instead of always playing second fiddle to the roles they play, whether it’s being a parent, a partner, or whatever it may be. One of the common things we see is women who are taking care of everyone else, but don’t know how to take care of themselves effectively.
“It’s a space to help redress that imbalance and even just for one hour a week, they can go and have a treatment, or use the gym – disconnect from the outside world, leave behind their roles and just show up for themselves. We hope this centre can be a wee escape for when life gets so overwhelming, even if just for that moment people can come and escape, and return a better version of themselves, better equipped to deal with the things life throws at them.”
Members of Change Wellness often take part in activities outside of the centre, such as family beach days and mountain walks. Last year, around 50 members took part in the Belfast City Marathon in relay teams.
They also took on the challenge of doing 5K a day for 50 days, raising over £9,000 for local mental health and wellbeing charities, Suicide Awareness and West Wellbeing.
As for their upcoming fundraising challenge this weekend, Thomas said: “We have done lots of walks together so decided let’s do a big walk around the city, and make it about all of Belfast. So there are 25km walks in each part of the city, that we will be doing from 11am on Saturday until 11am on Sunday.
“Health and wellbeing is too important to be geographical. We want to walk through all areas of Belfast together with the same cause, the same view that we all deserve more, we deserve access to wellbeing services that will uplift us as individuals and communities.”
You can donate to the fundraiser for Change Wellness Programme’s new community therapeutic centre by clicking here.
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