The room is full.That is the problemand the proof.
A Place Called Here runs at capacity every week, on almost no funding, staffed by two people around their day jobs. This page sets out what that produces and what it costs.
Key figures
- 40
people most weeks
Up from 35 at the very first session. The room has not had a quiet night since.
- 48
groups a year
Every Wednesday night, 7.30 to 9pm, with free wellbeing events on top.
- £0
cost to attend
No fee, no referral, no assessment. We also put on a meal for everyone who comes.
One church hall. Twenty two areas.
92 people have engaged with the charity, and they do not all live round the corner. They travel in from Stirling, Ayrshire, Helensburgh and across Lanarkshire, because there is nothing nearer.
| Area | People |
|---|---|
| Southside | 11 |
| East End | 8 |
| South Lanarkshire | 8 |
| Barmulloch | 7 |
| Renfrewshire | 7 |
| West Dunbartonshire | 6 |
| Robroyston | 4 |
| Maryhill | 4 |
| Auchinairn | 4 |
| Cumbernauld | 4 |
| Provanmill | 3 |
| Southwest | 3 |
| Milton | 3 |
| Knightswood | 3 |
| Lenzie | 3 |
| Milngavie | 3 |
| Kilbirnie/Ayrshire | 3 |
| Colston | 2 |
| West End | 2 |
| Stirling | 2 |
| Blackhill | 1 |
| Helensburgh | 1 |
We are holding people that the system cannot currently reach.
Mental health services in Scotland are stretched, and suicide bereavement sits in an awkward place within them. People are not ill, so they do not always meet a clinical threshold. But they are in acute distress, and a proportion of them are at real risk themselves.
So they wait. And while they wait, the place that is open is a church hall in Glasgow on a Wednesday night.
We are not a clinical service and we do not want to be one. What we are is the thing that holds people during the gap: the weeks or months between losing someone and getting seen, and the years afterwards when formal support has ended and the grief has not.
Professionals already treat us as part of the picture. Police suicide prevention officers refer people to us. The prison service refers people to us. Health professionals attend the group themselves. Scotland’s national suicide prevention lead has sat in our room.
Who sends people to us
- Police Scotland suicide prevention officers
- The prison service
- The Canmore Trust and other bereavement services
- Health professionals and GPs
- Word of mouth and social media
We measure this properly.
Every member is invited to complete an evaluation. We hold impact statements, attendance data and research covering the life of the charity.
Evaluation summary
A plain summary of the evaluation findings, with the headline measures funders ask for.
Impact statements
Written in members’ own words, with consent, and anonymised where they have asked for that.
The feedback survey
Eleven questions on how easy the group was to reach, whether anything got in the way, and what has changed since: loneliness, connection, coping with the bereavement, and everyday life. It is open now, and it is what the numbers on this page are built from.
Open the Peer Support Group Feedback Survey (opens in a new tab)Note for the build: the charity holds this material already. It is the single biggest asset on this page, and apart from the survey itself, none of it is public yet.
Part of the national conversation.
The first episode of the What if podcast from Suicide Prevention Scotland, with Amy Irons: what if we need to talk about suicide?
Suicide Prevention Scotland
The What if podcast with Amy Irons, episode 1.
If this is worth funding, here is how.
Fund our work