Our Red Door Centre: building a healthier Bury
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Our Red Door centre team in Bury is stepping up efforts to support local people in improving their health and wellbeing, with a range of new activities.
The health and wellbeing of people who access our services is incredibly important. All of our teams are on-hand to provide holistic care to help individuals and families locally, and our Red Door centre is no exception.
The team there has been running a range of successful sessions and activities in recent months and years to help people in the area who are experiencing homelessness or are at risk of becoming homeless. And, thanks to new funding received, they’re now able to step up the activity to reach out to even more people in the local community.
With findings in our recent report showing huge inequalities when it comes to the health of people who are homeless compared with the rest of the population, it has arguably never been more vital.
Amanda Croome, head of homelessness for our charity, said: “Health and wellbeing is so incredibly important when it comes to someone’s overall physical and mental state and we’re focussed on empowering people to gain the knowledge and skills to be able to improve their health and wellbeing and to provide support where needed.
“Our health hub at Red Door, which is being expanded thanks to a Reaching Communities grant from The National Lottery, includes a whole range of sessions and a dedicated health link worker too.
“Some sessions are held in partnership with health or medical professionals, supporting people in a diverse range of ways, from opticians to sobriety, access to GPs, health screenings and beyond.
“Other activities include gardening, health walks, arts and crafts, sports, IT, cookery and much more, all designed to help increase people’s skills and build their confidence, while improving social connections.
“We also have supported volunteering programmes to help people to gain work-based skills and gain qualifications that can help them get back into employment.
“Thanks to the latest funding from The National Lottery we’re perfectly positioned to reach even more people in Bury who are experiencing homelessness or poverty.”
The health hub is also being complemented by another exciting new initiative at Red Door, ‘Healthy Hearts’ which is funded by Bury VCFA.
‘Healthy Hearts’ will see people visiting Red Door for breakfast or lunch provided with an exciting new, healthy menu, enabling them to discover new recipes too.
Mike Holmes, who manages the Red Door Centre, explained: “Thanks to Bury VCFA we’re really looking forward to being able to provide a wide range of new food options at Red Door.
“People accessing the service can enjoy a nourishing breakfast and lunch, and the ‘Healthy Heart’s initiative means we’ve been able to expand and develop what’s on offer.
“We are also going to be providing recipe information for people that would like to try some of the healthy, low cost meals at home. Feedback from those accessing our services is that they’re really looking forward to discovering new – and healthy – foods.
“‘Healthy Hearts’ will also include sport sessions for people who come along to Red Door – from football to rounders and everything in between. We can’t wait for some good old competitive fun, and of course, it will not only be great for health but also for everyone’s mental wellbeing too.
“Thanks so much to The National Lottery and Bury VCFA for their amazing support so we can reach even more local people from our community in Bury at a time they need it most.”
To find out more about our Red Door day centre and how you can benefit from the activities and sessions on offer there, visit www.caritassalford.org.uk/RedDoor
