A Café with a Purpose

In 2023, the West Midlands was experiencing a sharp increase in demand for mental health support, with a 61% rise in people contacting services. With GP surgeries and A&E departments struggling to cope, Living Well Consortium UK and Birmingham Mind combined forces to offer a groundbreaking alternative.

Armed with NHS England funding, they opened grounded.’s first site at Selly Oak. A warm, accessible mental health and wellbeing hub and café, grounded. was the first of its kind in the UK. They sought to redefine what mental health support looked like and to reduce the number of people presenting at A&E in crisis.

As Alexandra D’Silva, grounded.’s Area Manager, who has been with the organisation since its inception, put it:  “grounded. is about creating a space that feels welcoming, homely, accessible, and inclusive- and that starts from within. I’m so proud of what we’ve built: an innovative service redefining… what mental health support looks like- less clinical, more human.”

Instantaneous Impact

At grounded., people could drop in for a brew and a chat, access talking therapies and engage with Mind’s Crisis Intervention service, Talking Space,  if needed. Also on offer were stress management and mindfulness workshops, yoga sessions, and visitors could even seek assistance with tasks like job searches. A calm and welcoming venue, where- alongside coffee and cake- anyone could find a safe space to pause, meet others, and, if needed, find support for their mental health.

Within a month of opening, grounded. Selly Oak’s impact was being felt, with one woman telling the BBC, “You don't know how happy I am [to have] found somewhere like this…I am able to access therapy. I am going to see a therapist in a week, there's no big waiting list.”

Astonishing Expansion

From community events to coffees, counselling sessions to crafternoons to fitness classes, grounded. supported every angle of the Selly Oak community’s welfare, and the community responded with enthusiasm! Within their first few months, they had seen 350 referrals, 640 walk-ins, served 800 customers in the café, and had over 800 attendees of their free programme of wellbeing activities. Following the Selly Oak locations' success, a second grounded. branch opened in Hall Green in January 2024, with a similar roster of activities and services available.

After being open just nine months, grounded. had welcomed over 7,000 people, held 125 free wellbeing workshops, supported 150 people to access free Talking Therapy, and created jobs for people who have faced barriers to employment. Even now, every cup of coffee served in a grounded. café is brewed by Evolve, a social enterprise providing disadvantaged young people with training and job opportunities. It came as no surprise when they announced that a third wellbeing café was to be established in St Paul’s Square.

Supporting the NHS on Every Level

The Selly Oak and Hall Green sites both offer an impressive roster of mental health services and holistic activities, all focused on helping people feel better. This typically looks like crafting sessions, fitness classes, support groups, and social opportunities, as well as one-to-one talking therapies, with therapeutic mentors on hand to discuss the different mental health support options available. As D’Silva said, “We’re committed to supporting the full spectrum of wellbeing- mental, physical, social, and environmental... This is mental health support, reimagined.”

Through this approach, they aim to foster a sense of community, helping people manage stress, and supporting their wellbeing so as to avoid reaching a point of crisis that requires primary NHS care.

Beyond this, the St Paul’s branch of grounded. was tasked with supporting not only locals’ welfare- via its nine talking therapy rooms, drop-in services, and cosy café- but also that of the NHS mental health staff who work so tirelessly to help their communities. Shockingly, the 2023 CQC Report found that NHS workers were more than twice as likely to record ‘anxiety/stress/depression’ as the cause of their sickness absence than any other reason, accounting for almost a third of all absences.

In response, St Paul’s dedicated wellbeing room aims to help ease some of this burden, offering care professionals a calming space to decompress and switch off from their work. Following a visit, Living Well Consortium’s CEO Ben Howells hopes that mental health workers will emerge “[Recharged, recouped], and ready to continue giving the much-needed support that so many of us benefit from.”

A Bright and Innovative Future

After being embraced by both locals and Birmingham’s student population, all three grounded. branches look set to remain central to their communities’ wellbeing. University of Birmingham student Becky Hyde spoke of grounded.’s appeal as a calm space to study, compared to the stressful environment of the University’s main library. She also noted that the student discount on offer in the café was an added bonus, and that grounded. was “certainly a space [she] would come back to”.

Far from resting on their laurels, though, the team behind grounded. are already looking to the future, making good on D’Silva’s claim that, “Innovation sits at the core of everything we do.”

Next up is COLLECTED., a purpose-driven retail space that will serve as a celebration of conscious community collaboration, presenting a curated, ever-evolving showcase of Birmingham’s most inspiring local businesses, independent makers, and creative minds. And with a portion of all profits getting reinvested into supporting Living Well UK’s mission to transform mental health services across the Midlands, the future for Birmingham’s community is looking very bright indeed.

Drop in to a grounded. Wellbeing Café and Enjoy a Warm Welcome

If you’re ever in the area, make sure to stop in for a cuppa, and check out the timetable of wellbeing activities. As Alexandra D’Silva says, “Whether you’re here for a chat, a workshop, a coffee, or counselling, you’ll find an inclusive, accessible, and homely space designed with care.”

And if you’d like to support grounded.’s ongoing work and help reimagine the future of Birmingham’s mental wellbeing, you can donate here. Or why not hold your next wellness group or workshop at a grounded. site? You can book a room here and use the calming space they’ve created to facilitate delivering your own brand of holistic community support.

Lastly, do you know of a great local not-for-profit organisation that deserves some recognition? Please tell us why, with a short (max. 500 words) account of the impact they’re making on their community, and send it to VSCE.Spotlight@RealWorth.org.