The three CCGs in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, together with  Leicestershire Partnership Trust (LPT), have today (Friday 14 January) partnered with Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (VAL) to deliver the first expansion of its Crisis Cafes.

Under the partnership, VAL will oversee a grant programme that will invite voluntary and community organisations to bid to run a café or a number of cafes on behalf of their community. This will see grants awarded to local organisations to increase the number of cafes from an initial three (the pilot projects) to 15 by the end of 2022. The final number of cafes will be in the region of 25 by the end of March 2023.

Sam Marandi from the CCG  said: “This is an important project for the development of mental health services across our area. It demonstrates the commitment from the NHS to work collaboratively with community groups as we know they are best placed to tailor the services to their local community’s need.

We are planning two sessions on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 January to talk to interested groups and we urge anyone who wants to know more to book in here – Crisis Café Grants – Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (valonline.org.uk)

For more information visit VAL’s website here – Crisis Café Grants – Voluntary Action LeicesterShire (valonline.org.uk)