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.
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