The Wellness Café is a peer led community-based model developed to support the recovery and inclusion of people with mental health problems in becoming active citizens. It is a model of support that exists outside mainstream mental health services and operate from a social rather than a medical perspective.
The Wellness café came about when six service users who had participated in two other mental health recovery programmes; namely EOLAS and Write to Recovery programmes began discussing the options for a more sustainable means to support their recovery on an ongoing basis. They came together with other stakeholders from within the HSE mental health services to develop through co-production a Wellness café model, as well as developing a facilitation skills training workshop to provide them with the skills and training they deemed necessary to become Wellness Café Facilitators. Peer facilitators note that this peer led model supports them to connect in their local communities, have a meaningful role within their communities, share their experiences in a platform that is safe, with the supports of Mental Health staff, Community & Voluntary sector and local businesses who were equal stakeholders in the process.
The aim of the presentation is to explore the process of developing Wellness Cafes across Donegal moving from the 1st site in Letterkenny town to rural areas and to discuss the enablers and barriers.
