Prosper was absolutely delighted to catch up with Catherine Breadmore, the Founder of Bring Me to Life Women’s Wellness CIC. BMTL is a female-led, not for profit organisation which provides a variety of wellbeing approaches including creative therapies, walk and talk sessions, mindfulness, and ways to manage thoughts and emotions, co-designed with women accessing the services – to support physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.
The walking groups in particular are excellent as they offer a safe way to exercise whilst being an opportunity to chat, helping to combat loneliness or isolation. BMTL make sure to offer something in all of Wakefield’s districts. Cat explained that within the health and wellbeing commissioners there is an emphasis on prevention, but it’s vastly underfunded, with a lack of signposting and long waiting lists. This is why Cat developed BMTL, it was born out of her own experiences and drives her vision of supporting and empowering women to lead the way in managing their own emotional health and wellbeing, educating their families and children in positive mental health to not just to survive but to thrive. BMTL is an investment in enabling women to feel empowered to look after themselves. Cat followed with saying that we know that gender neutral approaches to service provision often fail to recognise the specific needs of women and if health and social care are truly to be personalised, it is crucial we recognise the social realities of women’s lives and respond appropriately to gendered differences in mental health.
Prosper awarded a grant that enabled Cat to dedicate her time to BMTL. This grant also funded a yoga course “Wellness in the Woods” and some forest bathing, which sounded brilliant. This was the 2nd grant that BMTL had received from Prosper. Cat told me that this recent grant that covered her time and energy, was ‘amazing’ as it allowed her to run BMTL, to really get to grips with the operational running, apply for other grants and to establish good relationships with the Mental Health Alliance, who has since granted funding.
Having a local grant funder is important to small charities like BMTL, Cat says that she feels that we want to help and support them, and it’s not just financial. We are personable and approachable and are in the local community and she knows we are dedicated to helping Wakefield.
Cat is one of the VCSE Voices. This is a new project to increase representation of the VCSE sector at strategic, decision-making meetings across the Wakefield District. It provided opportunities for members of the VCSE to influence policy and improve services.
For Cat, BMTL isn’t a job, it’s her life and passion and Cat said that the Prosper funding was an acknowledgement of ‘faith’ in them to deliver the best they can for the women of Wakefield.
To find out more about Bring Me To Life, visit their website: Click here
Or email: catherine@bringmetolife.co.uk