Local residents have chosen ‘Hope Haven’ as the name for a new community wellbeing hub for west Cumbria. It's set to transform access to mental health and wellbeing support when it opens next year.
The Hope Haven hub in Whitehaven will bring together a range of services and staff, from the NHS and other organisations, under one roof.
Support will be provided by local organisations working closely together, including Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust (CNTW); Cumbria Health; Everyturn Mental Health; Home Group; iCan Wellbeing Group CIO; Whitehaven Community Trust; and The WELL Communities CIC.
David Blacklock, Interim Chief Executive of The Well Communities said;
I'm so pleased that The Well is involved in this transformative project. For far too long people have been passed around a system which has at times failed to respond to their needs. The Hope Haven will be just that, a place where hope can begin, a safe, accessible community service with a wide range of support available, The Well Communities is a Lived Experience Recovery Organisation supporting people to recover from drug and alcohol addiction, when the new service opens we will be on hand to help local people turn their lives around.
Hope Haven will be based in the old Halifax Bank branch building, on King Street in Whitehaven town centre. The building is being purchased and refurbished using funding from NHS England. It will be owned by Whitehaven Community Trust, for the benefit of the local community. The group hope that the building will be ready to open in April 2025.
And there will be drop-in sessions and support offered by Hope Haven in communities throughout Copeland, not only in Whitehaven. These will be starting earlier, in January 2025.
David Storm, Associate Director for Access and Community Services at CNTW, said:
Hope Haven is going to be a radically new way of supporting people’s mental health and wellbeing. At the moment, systems and services aren’t joined up. It’s hard to get help. People have to go to lots of different places for everything they need. And the longer someone has to wait for support, the more difficult their problems become, and the harder it is to help them get better.
But with the Hope Haven, we want to change that. People won’t need to be referred and discharged between different teams. They will be able to get the help they need much earlier, just by walking through the door, or contacting us by phone or online.
Services will link up around each person to provide what they need to get well and stay well. We’ll have NHS staff working alongside specialists who can help with things like housing, debt, and jobs.
I think one of our biggest strengths in Cumbria is our amazing community spirit, and we’re going to tap into that.
The work is being funded by NHS England. It is part of a new drive to provide more mental health support in local communities.
In November local people were invited to vote on a name for the service, from a shortlist of four put forward by local groups. The poll received nearly 1000 votes, and ‘Hope Haven’ emerged as the winner.
We’ll keep updating you about this exciting project throughout 2025!