Head 4 Health Programme

Head4Health launch is a mental health and wellbeing project which is open to all adults 18+ and offered by Wolves Foundation which aims to help people improve their mental health and wellbeing. The Head4Health programme runs over 8 weeks and offers a gentle introduction to being more physically active including walking, golf, boxercise and much more, offering opportunities for people to talk with others about what is going on in their lives, hear form organisations that can provide guidance and support, as well as providing access to more structured support such as free 1-1 counselling services if required.

There are additional sessions for those on the project to attend who may need that extra bit of support, these include Extra Time sessions which offer a safe and informal space to come and talk in addition to Walk & Talk sessions in West Park.

The programme is supported by a number of local partner organisations including NHS Healthy Minds, Recovery Near You, Wolverhampton Samaritans, Starfish and Service User Involvement Team.

At its launch in January 2019, Head4Health focussed on supporting males aged 18+. Additional funding from OHID enabled the programme to expand and grow the provision of Head4Health to include all adults aged 18+.

A total of 205 adults took part in the Head4Health pilot. Over 600 hours of programme delivery were provided to 35 groups including people who are victims of domestic violence, people engaged in substance use support, parents, and carers of young people with special educational needs (SEND), refugee and migrants, asylum seekers, and people who were homeless, or living in supported accommodation

Key Highlights of the pilot programme:

Significant increase in wellbeing scores for participants
Reduction in participants perceived stress scores
Achieving challenging target beneficiary numbers
Working with participants with a number of complexities
Success and impact of counselling provision
Increased awareness of Head4Health project across Wolverhampton
Substantial number of partnerships established and maintained
Partnership with Mental Health Foundation to create information & resource booklet

Impact and feedback about the sessions

‘I have really enjoyed attending the sessions and will miss them, I’ve met some lovely friends and learnt a lot about what is available for mental health issues and would like to say how lovely the staff are that run the course, thank you for including me on the course, it’s been excellent!’

‘I'd totally recommend it, the hardest part is going to the first meeting, it's the unknown, but everyone is so friendly your anxiety is soon put at ease.’

‘This is an excellent support group idea. It has had a positive impact on the lives of my family and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is suffering from mental health/addiction issues. The sessions were informative and really helpful’