Community Projects
Current Free / Low-cost Community Wellbeing Projects
TLC Low-Cost Complementary Therapies Clinic
Low-Cost EFT Clinic
Massage Clinic for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Community Cafe for Asylum Seekers and Refugees
Why these projects
The community projects you read about on these pages haven’t emerged in a Board meeting deciding what we should do next. They emerge because as an organisation rooted in the local community we notice a need that’s within our remit, we have conversations with partner organisations about gaps in provision, and we invite anyone interested join the conversation – this includes people who might potentially benefit from the project, people who might want to volunteer their time and expertise and our leadership team. We work with people to identify the gifts, skills and lived experience they bring, and together shape projects that respond to the need we identified. Our role is not simply to deliver a service, but to help create the conditions in which we can organise, contribute and respond together – we are a participatory grassroots organisation by design. Some projects continue for a long time. Others are time specific and come to an end when no longer needed, and yet others evolve and adapt over the years.
A History of Community Responses
We’ve hosted 25+ different community projects and pop-up spaces since 2012, often responding to an immediate need identified in our community.
For example, from 2017-2020 we ran a bi-monthly free/by donation multi-disciplinary TLC Clinic at the Tara Centre which served around 24 people a night with therapies such as Osteopathy, Physiotherapy, Homeopathy, Reflexology, Healing, Shiatsu and Access Bars on offer. These were drop-in sessions which were always in high demand due to our outreach work within the community helping with pain, stress and chronic health symptoms.
2018-2020 and after the pandemic 2021-2023 we ran a multi-bed Complementary Therapies Clinic at More Music for people in the West End of Morecambe. This was one of the most memorable of our projects as we were able to see 6 people at a time and have a social space with trained counsellors as Community Listeners – so we were able to offer therapies such as Cranialsacral therapy or Osteopathy, Bowen therapy and massage and then offer a safe social space where people could relax, connect and integrate.
From 2019-2020 we ran a Complementary Therapies Clinic in Heysham Medical Practice at the invitation of Morecambe Bay ICC offering therapies that support babies, elders, carers and people who would never have ordinarily visited a complementary therapist.
From 2020-2022, in response to the emerging need for connection and social interaction, we ran a mutual aid TImebank and free weekly drop-in session at Fork to Fork Forest Garden bringing together people who lived on their own, nurses, hospital workers, mental health nurses and therapists, carers, people in supported accommodation or from the rehab, people who were bereaved, elders, those recovering from addictions, refugees and others in need of support and connection. You can watch a short video of this project here.
For 14 months from September 2022 we ran a weekly Drop-in One Stop Shop for asylum seekers who’d just been placed in a hotel in Morecambe, in collaboration with Bay Integrated Care Community, Bay Medical Group and RAIS, offering physiotherapy for victims of torture, massage therapy, art, clothes, advocacy, friendship and support. The project ended when the men were moved out of the hotel. We received funding from the Community Champions Fund for this project which helped us set up our current weekly Wellbeing Cafe following on from this.
Some other projects:
– Commissioned nurse practitioner services from Lancaster Medical Practice based at Global Link
– Meditation group for girls
– Drop-ins with RAIS (Refugee Advocacy, Information and Support)
– a Children’s TLC free therapy clinic
– low-cost EFT Clinic
– a community Timebank
– online membership during COVID
– online Facebook support group during the pandemic
– Community Listenrers project during the pandemic
– Meditation projects with Active Lancashire, Lancashire Youth Challenge, Stanley’s Community Centre and Marsh Community Centre
– outreach sessions at Walter Lyon House supported housing
– Walk and Talk sessions
– Walking Meditation sessions for residents of Walter Lyon House
– weekly social drop-ins at the Tara Centre
– Monthly craft circle
– Monthly Community Fires in a Forest Garden
With gratitude to the funding organisations who have supported our community wellbeing projects over the past 13 years.
And we're also deeply grateful to all the organisations we have been able to partner with.
