Swindon welcomes new café for care workers

A new café has opened its doors to Swindon's care workers for weekly sessions, offering carers and service users a homely environment to socialise and network.

As part of a new collaborative scheme between Swindon Borough Council and Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership (AWP), a new service has opened at Whitbourne House, a residential care home in Park South. The Carer's Café, run by Mental Health Care Coordinator Jan Knight, launched this week and offers weekly sessions every Tuesday for care workers to use the space for respite, socialising, and counselling which is also privately available.

Jan Knight said: "It's a difficult role and some people just need to relax and sound off in a calm environment. Carers can come in and have a cup of tea and talk to other carers, sharing ideas to help those in care." Isobel Vaughan, who attended the opening, cares for her husband. She said: "It's a good place to bounce ideas between care workers - to see what works for others. It also allows my husband to meet people in the same situation as him. It does feel like a café lounge." Swindon Borough Council, who own Whitboune House, have allowed AWP to utilise the former spare room which they hope care workers will benefit from. NHS Therapist, Barbrara Sainsbury said: "Our carers can often feel quite isolated, and we're hoping we'll get to know some faces and they'll get to know us. "They're welcome to come in once, or weekly, and spend 10 minutes or the whole session in front of the fire place - it's calming. With the space we're taking the clinical aspects from the hospital and GP surgeries away. "I'll also be offering counselling sessions here every week - we have a room in the back for private sessions." CIT’s (Complex Intervention and Treatment) Senior Practitioner, Michelle Curr, added: "It's a bit more like a café if anything, where people can chill and relax. There are some smaller intimate tables so people don't feel they have to sit in large groups." The Care's Café runs every Tuesday from 1.30pm to 3.30pm at Whitbourne Ave, Swindon SN3 2JX.