Impact Report

December 2022

The Cellar Trust has released its annual Impact Report 2021-22 detailing how the organisation helped those that needed mental health support. The range of client needs that we support is wide and varied, therefore, so are our services.

View the Impact Report here

We supported 7,798 people in 2021-22 to address the challenges they faced with their mental health, through one of more of our services.

We are a 100+ strong team now and our aim is simple. We are working towards a future where good mental health and wellbeing is prevalent across the Bradford District and beyond.

Haven funding came to an end in June 2022, but we were successful in our joint bid for the Safe Spaces contract with Mind in Bradford, which builds upon our strengths and successes and works with partner organisations to deliver support across our communities.

Our Pathways to Employment service met an increased demand from people furthest from the job market, with severe or enduring mental health problems and regular periods of crisis. These clients typically experience multiple barriers to work.

January 2022 saw the launch of HOPE. Delivering one-to-one peer support in 6 or 12 week blocks, for clients who frequently attend urgent care services or have a history of trauma. “The support has been invaluable and genuine, I feel like I finally have some fight back within myself.”

As well as our staff, we trained 210 people to be peer support workers through our OCN Level 3 accredited Peer Support training. We further developed our offering and now deliver Peer Support supervision on an external, consultancy basis.

Kim Shutler, CEO at the Cellar Trust, said: “It has been another busy and challenging year for The Cellar Trust. Of course, even as I write, we know that Covid has not gone away. We face ongoing and new pressures, both for the organisation and the people we serve, in the external environment including the cost-of-living crisis. It has impacted on all of us in different ways… all in the same storm, not all in the same boat.

This has meant that we have had to navigate returning to a new version of ‘business as usual’, with the difficulties and benefits of hybrid working, increased demand on our services at the same time as implementing some big changes and fabulous new provisions. It also means that we move ahead, after a very tiring two years into a period which will continue to test our resilience. I say though, with great pride, that our team are exceptional when it comes to weathering the storm and we move into the coming months as a strong organisation with a brilliant values-driven culture. These things make all the difference in challenging times.”

Our CEO Kim Shutler was identified as a Charity Times Top 20 Pandemic Pioneer and awarded an MBE for Services to Mental Health in the Queen’s New Year’s Honours 2021.

The Cellar Trust won the Locality Transforming Lives Award in 2021 for our response to COVID.

As an organisation we believe strongly that we can sustainably impact on the mental health of people in our communities both through direct service delivery, and through using our experience to influence wider service design, policy and strategy.

View the Impact Report here

Safe Spaces partners with West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police can now refer Bradford residents to Safe Spaces for urgent support

West Yorkshire Police who are called to help people in mental distress in the Bradford District area, can now refer people to Safe Spaces.

Anyone aged seven and over living in Bradford District and Craven who is experiencing mental health distress can access Safe Spaces (individuals don’t need to go through West Yorkshire Police). To access this service, call First Response on 0800 952 1181 (24 hour helpline) and ask for ‘Safe Spaces’.

As part of the Safe Spaces service offer there are local hubs and drop-ins, and an overnight service for children and young people, which replaced Sanctuary and Haven and the existing overnight children’s space. Support provided at Safe Spaces is calm, non-clinical and staffed by crisis support workers from noon to 2.30am every day.

The Cellar Trust and Mind in Bradford, commissioned by Bradford District Health and Care Partnership to deliver Safe Spaces, are working together to deliver Safe Spaces. Both organisations have been working alongside PC Jodie Duane, West Yorkshire Police Mental Health Engagement Officer for the Bradford District, to create a police referral pathway that is quick to access.

Heather Butcher, Safe Spaces Programme Director, Mind in Bradford, said: “Our work with colleagues at West Yorkshire Police means that they can now bring people directly to our Safe Spaces in Bradford or Keighley. The hope with this work is that people within the Bradford District and Craven will be able to access a calm space and will get quicker and more appropriate support when they are struggling.’’

PC Jodie Duane, West Yorkshire Police, said: “Police officers are getting reports of people in mental health crisis on a daily basis. We want to provide the best service possible when a person is at their lowest. This referral pathway gives frontline officers an opportunity to seek immediate support for that person, which has not been an option before.”

Iain MacBeath, Strategic Director for Health and Wellbeing at Bradford Council and Director of Integration for Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It’s fantastic to see how West Yorkshire Police can now make referrals to Safe Spaces, this means the individual will get the support they require within their community rather than a hospital setting. Safe Spaces is there for individuals who are in distress, this includes severe anxiety and/or panic attacks, suicidal thoughts, or intense depression.”

Inspector Osman Khan from the Stronger Communities Team has described the initiative as ground-breaking. “This partnership approach will be highly effective in addressing complex issues and will help build stronger relationships between organisations and individuals, leading to better outcomes for all involved.”

The Cellar Trust wins prestigious national mental health award

The Cellar Trust has won The Peer Support Award 2022 at the National Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards.

The award recognised the essential role peer support has in mental health services and how The Cellar Trust uses this type of support to underpin its vital services.

The Cellar Trust has been delivering peer support since 2016 beginning with its crisis service: Haven and has continued to build on this through a range of services from the Safe Spaces to the Pathways to Employment Team, and the MAST which includes Peer Support Workers in Bradford Royal Infirmary and Airedale Hospital.

Peer support is a non-clinical form of support and involves people using their own experiences of mental health challenges to share understanding, hope and improved wellbeing with others. 96% of The Cellar Trusts clients said that peer support was an important part of the service to them. Building on its own positive experiences, The Cellar Trust charity also delivers accredited Peer Support Training and supervision to other organisations locally and nationally.

Speaking after the awards Kim Shutler, CEO at The Cellar Trust said:

“Peer Support has been fundamental to how we deliver our crisis support services, in hospitals and in the community. We know the huge positive impact it can have on individuals struggling with their mental health and wellbeing because, above all else, it gives people hope. It’s wonderful to be recognised with this award as we continue to provide this support to people when they need it most. The pandemic and the current cost of living crisis means people are really feeling the impact on their mental health. Having this kind of support available makes such a difference.”

Speaking of his experience joining one of The Cellar Trust’s peer support groups, Gary said:

“The one place I felt like I was actually listened to and taken seriously was my Peer Support Group. They helped me cope with all the stress, anger and negative emotions the more acute services were causing me. In particular, the way the group was led by the Peer Support Workers amazed me. I cannot express how much they have helped me and supported me in my progress.’