On the 22nd April, the Kindness and Wellbeing group based in Dartford had its 3rd anniversary celebrations.
Their open door policy for anyone to join their group who may be struggling, has led to them amassing over 7000 members online and many members who attend their in person sessions.
Kai Wei reports
Their open door policy for anyone to join their group who may be struggling, has led to them amassing over 7000 members online and many members who attend their in person sessions.
Kai Wei reports
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00:00Happy birthday to you.
00:04Hooray!
00:06Near the end of April, the Kindness and Wellbeing Group in Dartford had its third birthday.
00:11Celebrating three years of supporting each other's mental health,
00:14the founder started this whole thing during COVID when people needed it most.
00:18Three years ago, I decided that enough was enough.
00:21People really needed help and they needed help in person.
00:23So when all the restrictions lifted, I set about starting a Kindness and Wellbeing Group
00:29to bring people together in person to support each other.
00:32So I struggled with my mental health pretty much since childhood
00:34and at 29 I became disabled by an incurable chronic illness.
00:40I really found that when you're at school, there's support in school.
00:43When you're a mum, there's support for being a mum.
00:46When you're at work, there's support through work.
00:48But if you're of working age and you fall seriously ill and become disabled,
00:53there is just nothing. There's this huge chasm of you don't fit.
00:57Gathering people alike with mental and physical disabilities,
01:01the group aims to be a platform for all who need support,
01:04regardless of their age or condition.
01:06Before the group, I didn't have friends as well.
01:10I got ill eight years ago.
01:13I have hydrocephalus, which is water on the brain.
01:17So that's completely changed my life.
01:20The group brought me really good friends,
01:23made me getting out of bed really.
01:26I started coming here after my wife passed away
01:30and it helped to communicate with people better.
01:36Drawing really helped.
01:39Talking to the ladies and gentlemen here has really cheered me up on that.
01:45Get over the troubles with my wife.
01:48It is such a good group.
01:50She does it all for free and with her own problems.
01:53And everybody that comes here on a Tuesday really appreciates it.
01:57So we had our birthday party last week.
01:59That was really good.
02:00And Laura did little birthday gifts for everybody, all personalised.
02:04And it's like she just took that time to do that.
02:08And it's just so lovely.
02:09We've tried numerous groups and Mo just wasn't comfortable in most groups.
02:15And then so we met Laura, came here,
02:18and we have practically been every Tuesday for over a year and a half now.
02:25The people that come here are just amazing.
02:28I think it's so difficult for not only people of any age,
02:31but any disability or any mental health issues
02:33to find somewhere they're just supported.
02:35The group also prides themselves on their online platform,
02:39including running a scheme where people can apply for kindness kits.
02:42They've sent these packages across the country,
02:44including some internationally.
02:46One of the biggest fundraisers that we do is an online market,
02:49which actually starts on the 1st of May.
02:51They can then sell through their small business.
02:54And the other thing is free mental health packs.
02:56I work as hard as I possibly can around my own health needs.
03:00We really welcome everybody,
03:02but the resources and everything that we provide
03:04are particularly to help people who are struggling
03:06with their physical or mental health.
03:08With the help of her carer, Katrina,
03:10Laura hopes to continue to grow her group
03:12and help as many as possible.
03:14Kai Wei for KMTV in Dartford.
03:17Lovely work going on there at the Wellbeing Group.
03:19Well, Laura joins us on the line now.
03:21Laura, thank you very much for being here this morning.
03:23It's good to have you on.
03:24First of all, can you just take us through how this all started?
03:27So initially, it sort of started a little bit by a little bit.
03:32So before COVID even happened,
03:33I had like a little coffee and wellbeing group on the estate,
03:36which was very, very tiny, very informal.
03:39And it started to become more and more obvious
03:41that we needed something more.
03:44So on the 1st of January 2020,
03:47I set up the Facebook group.
03:49And then by the July, it became clear
03:51that in order to actually do stuff, we needed funding.
03:53And I needed to be able to get out there
03:55to be able to put things on.
03:57And then, yeah, fantastically, by the following April,
04:00we were actually open
04:02and had the Kindness and Wellbeing Group in person.
04:05Once the restrictions lifted,
04:07it meant that we could actually bring people together
04:09to support all sorts of things.
04:11Like everyone is welcome to our group.
04:13There's no particular criteria.
04:15There's no referral.
04:16There's no waiting list.
04:17Anyone can literally just come along today if they want to.
04:20And how have you seen the group
04:22and the types of people coming into the group
04:24change over the past few years as well?
04:27There must be different levels of demand,
04:29especially at different times of the year.
04:32Yeah, so we have sort of two core demographics.
04:35People of all ages all the time,
04:38but then during the school holidays,
04:40people can bring their children along as well.
04:42And even sometimes during school time,
04:44if we've got children with special needs
04:45that perhaps are waiting for a school place or something,
04:48or they're out of school because of medical needs,
04:51they are welcome to come to us as well.
04:53So particularly in the school holidays,
04:54we get children,
04:55but anyone is welcome any time of year.
04:57And we are there all year round.
05:01And in the sort of three years as well,
05:03have you experienced sort of any sort of major setbacks,
05:06I suppose,
05:07because it is a lot of pressure as well
05:09with 7,000 people coming through
05:11and you've got an open door policy,
05:12so you're never going to turn anybody away.
05:14But with that comes a lot of pressure.
05:17Yeah, it does.
05:18It does.
05:18But I'm determined to keep it going
05:21as much as I possibly can.
05:23To my own detriment,
05:24probably sometimes people tell me off.
05:25But yeah,
05:27the mental health packs that we send out,
05:29so this is sort of a bit of an example.
05:31This is sort of Blue Peter style-y one I made earlier.
05:33Those go out in the post all over the world.
05:35And we've never had to turn anyone away for one of those.
05:39Our kindness kits are funding dependent.
05:41So we are constantly in need of funding.
05:44So in terms of setbacks,
05:45literally our costs and things go up so much.
05:49I mean, obviously,
05:49we're in a cost of living crisis,
05:50but things like our insurance has gone up massively.
05:54HMRC just withdrew their platform.
05:56So that's another £100 that we've got to find.
05:58We don't get anything else for that.
06:00That's just like,
06:00oh, I need to just find another £100.
06:03So, and the postage costs have gone up massively.
06:05So things like that make it really difficult
06:07for us to continue.
06:09And literally a couple of weeks ago,
06:10we only had £4 in the bank.
06:11So, you know, any funding opportunities,
06:14if there's anyone out there that's watching
06:15that maybe through their work,
06:17they do match funding or volunteering
06:18or anything like that,
06:20we would love to hear from you.
06:21Because things like that can really help us.
06:23As well, people joining our market,
06:25we've got 5,700 customers in our pop-up group.
06:29And we've now hit 175 stalls,
06:31which is fantastic.
06:33And that means that that's 175 mental health packs
06:35that we've funded to be able to send out,
06:38which is brilliant.
06:38And we've also got an online version
06:41that people can download as a PDF,
06:43which is then instantly available.
06:45And again, there's no referral,
06:46there's no payment.
06:47They can literally just go on,
06:49put in their email address.
06:50We don't send them a load of marketing or anything.
06:52There's no gimmicks.
06:53It's literally just,
06:54we're here to help people.
06:55It really is a lovely piece of work that you do.
06:58You're based on so much positivity
07:00and then sharing a message of kindness.
07:01So just wondering what sort of effect
07:03it has on yourself as well,
07:04being surrounded by all that love.
07:05I know that in the piece there,
07:07you mentioned that you suffer
07:09from a physical disability yourself.
07:11It must have had such a positive impact.
07:15Yeah, it really has.
07:17The last sort of nine months,
07:19my own health has deteriorated massively.
07:22Fortunately, I'm kind of medicating
07:23and coming out the other side of that a little bit now.
07:25But it would have been,
07:26if it wasn't for the support
07:27of the amazing members at the group,
07:29I'd have had to close.
07:30But no, they all rallied round.
07:32We had a summer fair
07:33that I'd booked in before I felt extra ill.
07:36And that was three stalls that I'd booked.
07:39And I was going to have to cancel it.
07:40But all the members were like,
07:41no, I'll pick you up.
07:42I'll drive you.
07:43I'll help you unload.
07:44I'll do this bit.
07:45I'll do that bit.
07:45And everyone just rallied round.
07:47And the same with setting up
07:48and packing up at the group.
07:49Like I'm physically very, very limited.
07:52And I do have a carer that's fantastic
07:54that supports me, Katrina.
07:56But yeah, all the members stay
07:57and they will help me pack up
07:58and they will help me set up.
07:59And they all know kind of what needs doing
08:01to, you know, put this operation on.
08:04So it's very much not just me.
08:06It is the entire group
08:07that are the kindest bunch of people
08:09you could ever hope to meet.
08:11And I'm so grateful
08:12for every single one of them.
08:13They keep me going
08:14and make me want to get out of bed
08:15in the morning on a Tuesday as well.
08:17Kind of the community
08:18and the environment
08:19that you've sort of created,
08:21I suppose,
08:21and that kindness being given back as well.
08:24I feel a lot more positive
08:25from obviously talking to you
08:27and seeing Kai's report there,
08:28but this wonderful wall
08:29you've got behind you
08:30of sort of possibility.
08:31So yeah, loads of these
08:32gorgeous products.
08:35They're bought in our market as well.
08:37So this diamond painted logo here
08:39was done by one of our members.
08:42Lots of the other artwork
08:43and things that are around me
08:45were bought in our market
08:47for kindness community.
08:48And then also,
08:49unlike most other sort of
08:50online marketplaces and things,
08:52we actually then use
08:54some of the funding
08:54that comes in
08:55through people buying
08:56their market stalls
08:56we then buy things
08:58in the market
08:59from other small businesses.
09:01Also, many of those
09:01are run by disabled
09:03or chronically ill people.
09:05We then buy things
09:06that then go out
09:07in our kindness kit.
09:08So that kindness
09:08just kind of keeps circulating
09:10and keeps going around
09:11so that we're spreading it
09:12further and further and further.
09:13Those ripples
09:13are just growing and growing.
09:15Well, Laura Cordell,
09:16founder of Wellbeing Group,
09:18thank you so much
09:18for joining us today.
09:19Such a wonderful message
09:21of positivity to spread
09:22on a lovely Tuesday morning as well.
09:24Thank you so much
09:25for joining us.
09:26Thank you so much
09:27for having me.