Alyth Ladies Wellbeing Group are set to continue their great work supporting the mental health of women in Alyth and the surrounding area thanks to a grant from ADT’s Community Projects Fund.
The grant of £2000 will go towards running expenses – hire of premises and cost of materials, equipment and tuition for activities such as arts and crafts, fitness, yoga and educational materials for discussions on mental health and wellbeing. The Group has survived on very little funding since it was founded online 15 months ago during the height of the covid lockdowns, but its future beyond this summer looked very uncertain without some additional resource. The demand for such a group was well-known already and confirmed in a survey by Alyth Community Support Group last year. Since the Ladies Wellbeing Group started face-to-face meetings last autumn, the number of regular attendees has grown steadily with new members enquiring all the time.
The Group is run by two volunteers, Pauline Sanyang and Dot McKenzie, both of whom are mental health first aiders. Pauline, who is also a qualified Counsellor, commented: “Our aim is to support the mental health and wellbeing of the ladies of Alyth and give them a safe, supportive environment where they can come to speak to others about their experiences or just to have a coffee and a chat. The stigma of mental ill-health is a big barrier to people seeking help and COVID has really impacted the lives and health of everyone. Our hope is that this group can go some way to giving confidence back to women in and around Alyth, help them make connections with other people and try to get back some sort of normality to their lives.”
The ADT Community Projects Fund distributes monies donated to the town by Temporis Ltd, operators of the Tullymurdoch Wind Farm just north of Alyth. Find out more here: https://lovealyth.org.uk/projects/alyth-community-projects-fund/