In their first ever Bring Your Own Crafts session, Sheffield Mind invited people from the area to chat and craft to promote mental well-being and bring the community together.
The event featured a variety of different craft work brought from homes and charity shops including origami swans, thread painted cats and embroidered tablecloths.
Lydia Kent, the services manager of Sheffield Mind said: “I think it’s been a great triumph, plenty of people have attended, there’s been lots of laughing and sharing of crafts. I think it’s gone really well.”
Bring Your Own Crafts was created by lead service users of the charity to give attendees a common ground to talk about and to help ease the flow of communication.
One lead service user who has chosen to stay anonymous said: “Through the volunteer drop in sessions we thought a craft session would be helpful as although there’s pencils and mind map books in other drop in sessions we thought it would be useful for people to bring in their own crafts.
“People have loved it because it’s such a comfortable place to come to and people aren’t looking at what you’re doing thinking why are you doing that. It’s showing that doing something creative makes you more relaxed and at ease.”
People worked on their individual art pieces from one till three in the afternoon with complementary teas and coffees being served throughout.
The charity runs multiple peer support events every week, with Mind Forwards on a Monday which aids people in their work and mental health struggles, as well as Friendly Fridays where people can come together to have an informal chat about what is bothering them at that time.
As well as drop-in events, Sheffield Mind holds counselling and therapy sessions, anger management courses and direct payment services.
Sheffield Mind was founded in 1978 and is one of around 100 local Mind charities that operate in England and Wales, Sheffield Mind is independently funded and is based in Sharrow.
If you would like further information about Sheffield Mind you can visit their page here or call their info line at 0114 258 4489.