Sue, our team lead for all things Bristol and beyond, tells us about SWEDA’s journey in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire

Why did SWEDA see a need to set up a team for Bristol and the surrounding areas?
 
"It was a natural progression for SWEDA: we always wanted to do it, but because we are a charity, funding was very difficult. Because of our success in our work supporting the NHS in Somerset, we were then able to get a contract with the NHS in Bristol, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire. With that contract, we can provide all of the services that we provide over in Somerset, except for our counselling service. But, because the counselling is such an important part, we do offer it, and it’s being funded out of SWEDA’s own pocket as a charity."

Photo: Some of the lovely SWEDA BNSSG Support Team (left to right: Lisa, Martha, Joey, George, Kat, Sue)
 

What are some of the unique challenges for SWEDA in Bristol and beyond?
 
"The level of demand in this area is huge. There’s a massive demand for our services. One of the hardest things I’ve found since being over in Bristol is managing how much we go out into the community and promote what we do: there’s always a fine balance between going out into the community and managing our expectations of what service we can deliver.
 
The thing that comes out for me all the time if I’m at an event or speaking to local people, it’s the Children and Young People’s service that is calling out for support, which we currently receive no funding for in Bristol. What we can do with our current funding is support parents of children with eating disorders, and we’re also now moving into colleges where we can work with young people.
 
One of the nice things we’re able to do is when we do talk to people on the ground level, we listen to what the community wants, and if we can provide it, we will then provide what they need. For example, we’ve had one area who really wanted a support group and drop in facility – so we’re able to provide that. The demand is there, trying to manage the demand on what we can offer is a balancing act.
 
Another challenge unique to BNSSG is that it is an area of cultural diversity, much more so than Somerset, so we need to build our awareness of that, be sensitive to our presence within those cultural diversities and understand how we can provide the right service within that."
 
 
What’s it like leading SWEDA's BNSSG team?
 
"We are a whole team together, I really try to emphasise that. Each person brings their unique individuality to it, I don’t think one person is better than another at all. Everybody works and supports one another, every person has some unique strengths for us to draw upon.
 
One of the things I really felt strong about when setting up the team is that everybody gets together in person for a clinical meeting on a Monday; with remote working, it’s really important to make sure those connections are there and that we can support each other, it’s important to have a laugh together even! Every six weeks we now have a lunch together and then an hour and a half where we stop, chill, just support one another, sharing resources, peer support, everybody reconnecting. I really hope that my team feel supported and given the space to make decisions, not feel as though they’re criticised or too scared to make a decision or put an idea forward."

Photo: Entrance to the Penny Brohn centre, home to SWEDA's main hub in Bristol
  
Where in Bristol can people get support from SWEDA?
 
"The Penny Brohn Centre in Pill is our main hub and we love it here, it’s got so many facilities and Penny Brohn’s values are so similar to SWEDA’s. This is our base for Bristol and we have therapy rooms here as well. The nice thing about the centre is that clients can come here, have their 1-2-1 with their therapist and use all the grounds which have lots of space and plenty of private areas: we can use the gardens for our therapeutic sessions which makes a huge difference. For all our clients who have received support in the city and then tried our counselling rooms at Penny Brohn, every single one has said it was really worth the journey, and that the building feels very relaxing.

We do have permanent rooms in the centre of Bristol for those who can’t drive: one room at the Nilaari Agency in Easton, and one space we can use at the top of Whiteladies Road in Clifton. In addition to that, we cover the outskirts of Bristol using set rooms which we can rent out if a client wants to see us in their area, because we want to be as accessible as possible for our clients."

Photo: SWEDA counselling rooms in the Penny Brohn centre

All photos by Alice Florrie