£15,000 awarded to support work with underrepresented adults in Wakefield District

Our recent round of Wakefield & District Safeguarding Adults Board Small Grants has awarded funding to seven Tier 3 Gateway members.

We recently worked with Wakefield & District Safeguarding Adults Board (WDSAB), a multi-agency partnership responsible for ensuring that adults at risk of abuse and/or neglect are supported, listened to, engaged and empowered to live safe and well lives.

WDSAB were looking to fund projects and organisations working with one or more seldom heard groups, i.e. underrepresented adults who may face barriers to accessing support, are vulnerable, or are at increased risk of abuse or neglect. They saw this as a potential way to prevent abuse/neglect by supporting smaller organisations who do valuable, often unseen work, supporting people on the brink of a crisis or a safeguarding situation.

The Community Investment Gateway advised on the fund, facilitated co-production with local organisations and helped WDSAB connect with a wide range of VCSE providers.

As a result:

• The key elements of the grants scheme were agreed following an engagement session with the sector.

• Funding was open only to Tier 3 members of the Community Investment Gateway (or those eligible to join), in line with the Board’s objective of supporting smaller organisations who might not otherwise have opportunities to influence the Board and contribute to its work.

We are delighted to announce that seven Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) organisations locally rooted in Wakefield District have been funded, with a total of £15,000 channelled through the Community Investment Gateway.

What was funded?

Mokkha CIC

Meeting people where they are and strengthening engagement and trust

Mokkha work alongside adults facing multiple and overlapping barriers, including homelessness, addiction, contact with the justice system, neurodiversity, poverty and digital exclusion. They deliver outreach-based, lived experience-led support, meeting people where they already are and building trust over time.

This grant funding will enable increased outreach work, extending from Community Awareness Programme in Wakefield City Centre into Eastmoor, Lupset, Flanshaw, Hemsworth, South Elmsall and Whitwood. It will be used to increase capacity for intensive one-to-one support, including peer time to walk alongside individuals into services, attend appointments and provide follow-up support, as well as to support digital access costs. It will also enable small scale resilience-building and aspiration-raising sessions focused on wellbeing, confidence and safer decision making.

5 Towns Veterans Support Hub CIC

Breaking down barriers through specialist support

5 Towns Veterans Support Hub support veterans, their families and carers at the Veterans Centre in Featherstone. This is provided through drop in sessions and specialist help from visiting providers, as well as by phone and email. Where necessary, one-to-one support is offered by visiting clients at a location they prefer.

This funding will enable 5 Towns Veterans to continue their service and respond to increasing demand across Wakefield and the 5 Towns area. They will also provide support to Afghan refugees whose family members have provided translation services to the British Military.

5 Towns Veterans will work to address the barriers veterans, their families and carers face by providing specialist help through the drop in centre. This includes weekly support sessions from DWP, Citizens Advice Bureau, GASPED and Turning Point, and the Armed Forces Champion for Wakefield Council.

Empath Theatre CIC

Building confidence, wellbeing and self-empowerment through creative interventions

Empath Theatre is a Wakefield-based theatre company delivering creative projects that support wellbeing, inclusion and community safety. They specialise in arts-based interventions that use theatre techniques, storytelling and creating to engage young people and adults who are less likely to access traditional services. Empath’s work is trauma-aware, non clinical and rooted in trusted community spaces such as libraries, community venues and our own studio.

This grant will be used to fund delivery of InterDrama, a short, library-based creative intervention using drama games and theatre-maker activities to support adults from seldom heard communities to build confidence, wellbeing and self-empowerment. Delivered in trusted, accessible civic spaces, the project removes common barriers to engagement by offering a free, non clinical environment where participants can take part without pressure or prior experience. Activities are gentle, flexible and participant-led, allowing people to engage at their own pace while creating opportunities for connection and reflection. Take home packs will provide continued support and signposting.

Blossom Training and Development CIC

Supporting seldom-heard groups with confidence, personal safety and connection

Blossom Training & Development delivers specialist, community focused training designed to build confidence, safety and connection for vulnerable individuals and the organisations that support them. Support focuses on personal safety, community awareness, wellbeing and navigating public and digital spaces with confidence.

The grant funding will be used to deliver specialist, full day training courses for vulnerable and seldom-heard communities across Wakefield. This will be achieved through trusted partner organisations to help reduce anxiety, build trust and encourage participation from individuals who may otherwise feel excluded or hesitant. The seldom-heard groups supported through this funding include members of the Deaf community, who experience increased vulnerability and barriers to accessing safety training, and service users of One Ummah Community, a group with cultural, social and confidence barriers.

Frontside

Using paddleboarding as a tool for empowerment and prevention

Frontside engages adults with complex lives by working through trusted relationships already established at The Saviour Trust’s Castleford Hub.

The grant funding will be used to expand provision of paddleboarding and wellbeing sessions for adults accessing The Saviour Trust’s Castleford Hub, particularly those who are seldom heard or underrepresented. This includes adults experiencing mental ill health, social isolation, poverty, insecure housing, recovery from addiction or those with lived experience of trauma or abuse.

Paddleboarding is a powerful tool for empowerment and prevention. Being on the water promotes calm, focus and physical regulation, supporting mental wellbeing and reducing stress and anxiety. The shared experience builds trust and peer connection, helping participants feel less isolated. Staff model healthy boundaries and encourage discussion around wellbeing, safety and self-care at a pace led by participants. This helps participants feel safer opening up, which helps staff identify emerging needs early.

Heavy Metal Therapy

Supporting alternative music communities through peer support

Heavy Metal Therapy offer mental health peer support resources for people who identify with alternative music communities. This includes online resources, story sharing and local peer support groups managed by trained facilitators. They provide safe spaces both online and in person specifically for people in alternative subcultures, run by other community members, making them more accessible to those who may find it difficult to access mainstream services.

People in alternative subcultures are a group known to be more at risk of emotional difficulties, and the feedback Heavy Metal Therapy receive from group members and volunteers suggests they offer a unique space to talk about mental health.

This grant will be used by Heavy Metal Therapy to both continue and expand their offer in Wakefield District to people from alternative subcultures who experience mental health challenges, many of whom are also neurodivergent, from the LGBTQIA+ community and those who are carers. The funding will also be used to build on existing peer support facilitator training to offer advanced training and supervision which includes further consideration of safeguarding and working with young people.

Memory Action Group

Reuniting people living with dementia with their families and carers

Memory Action Group is a peer support group for people living with dementia and their carers, offering drop in sessions twice a week with attendees from across Wakefield District.

Memory Action Group works with Wakefield Hospice and West Yorkshire Police on ReUnite, a scheme to ensure people living with dementia are reunited with their families/carers if they go missing. Carers feel more confident for their loved one to maintain independence when wearing a ReUnite device.

Evidence shows that the system is working well, but and general public awareness is paramount to ensure this continues. This grant funding will be used to promote the scheme across the district, through print, digital and radio advertising, promotion in public places and on public transport and at local events.

These small grants are funded by Wakefield & District Safeguarding Adults Board and managed by Nova Wakefield District using the Community Investment Gateway.