Wellbeing of Women and Holland & Barrett have announced new funding to support women's health in under-served communities
The ‘Women’s Health Community Fund’ will provide £50,000 to projects working with under-served communities in partnership with retailer Holland & Barrett. The fund has already helped over 3,000 women nationwide with advice, education and support around menopause
Located across the country, the new group of successful applicants include BID Services, a project focused on women’s health education for D/deaf/hard of hearing women living in Leeds and IKWRO Women’s Rights, a London based organisation that provides training to raise awareness on women’s health issues to victims of domestic violence, forced marriage and other harmful practices.
New Hope Global
Introduce into established 'Chai and chat' groups dedicated to women's health discussions on endoemtriosis, PCOS, PMDD, periods and menopause. In addition, deliver 2 large scale events - one to focus on endometriosis, one to focus on menopause. We are very happy to win the funding for women's health and wellbeing projects, this is truly a great opportunity to invest in a brighter, healthier future for our communities, where every woman's health matters and she is empowered!
Tyneside Women's Health
The Menstruation & Menopause Matters project will provide a series of informal workshops called ‘Canny Chat’ to help women explore, understand and share experiences of menstruation and menopause. These sessions will also raise awareness of other sources of support available to them, and normalise feelings and emotions associated with the topics. Sessions will be delivered from our Centres in Gateshead and Newcastle upon Tyne on a monthly basis.
We’re delighted to have received grant funding from Wellbeing of Women to support our Menstruation & Menopause Matters project. This is a really important piece of work and will enable us to provide information and interventions vulnerable women in Tyneside who would otherwise struggle to access support.
Bid Services
Those who are D/deaf or hard of hearing (hereafter D/deaf) experience health inequalities impacting on many areas of their lives due to the lack of accessible health information and services. This can lead to misdiagnosis, inappropriate treatments, missed appointments and screening, limited access to information and lack of understanding around health, conditions and treatments, restricting women’s ability to make informed choices about their health. D/deaf women experience this throughout their life and different life stages. Through delivery of a series of in person workshops taking place in Leeds, our project will increase D/deaf women’s access to health information and support, empowering D/deaf women, and enabling them to make informed choices about their health, care and treatment.
Nottingham Women's Centre
This project aims to increase knowledge and awareness of women’s health issues, create spaces for conversation to destigmatize women’s gynaecological health, and feed in women’s experiences of these issues to local decision makers and service providers.
This project will be delivered through a mixture of two (2) online webinars and three (3) in person workshops and events, on (but not limited to) endometriosis, menopause, periods, vaginismus, and Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome (PCOS) to women (18+) within Nottinghamshire accompanied by a communications campaign. We aim to reach 150 women through the activities while the collective reach of our social media channels and mailing list is over 17,000.
This funding will enable us to create space for important conversations about 'Women's Health Matters' and remove stigma around these issues, as well as to celebrate women's bodies and health. Thank you to Holland & Barrett, and Wellbeing of Women for the opportunity and we are excited to get talking.
SNaP Youth
SNaP Youth works with young people aged 10-17 in South Normanton and Pinxton, Derbyshire. We will be gathering together a group of young women for an hour every month to talk about menstruation and everything that goes along with this. We will be empowering the young women to become knowledgeable, comfortable and confident. We will also be providing free sanitary products to those struggling to afford them.
IKWRO Women's Rights
To provide training/information sessions to raise awareness about menopause, endometriosis, fibroids and PCOS to women and girls who are survivors/Victims of domestic violence, FGM, child marriage, forced marriage and other harmful practices. These training sessions will be for the women and girls from MENA community. Training will be provided by IKWRO, and we will have delegates on the panel from the NHS, IKWRO and other specialist organisations. Our target audience for face-to-face training is 200 women and for providing information material is 1000.
We are grateful to Wellbeing of Women for providing us with the funding to raise awareness about menopause and other health issues amongst women and girls.
Europia
We are Europia, we exist to support and empower Central and Eastern European migrants and refugees in Greater Manchester. We are hosting a series of health events in Oldham designed to break down barriers for Roma women to access women’s health information by providing comprehensive resources, workshops, and support networks.
Serenity Women's Centre
The House of Serenity team, in collaboration with health professionals, aims to deliver workshops on various women's health topics. These include distinguishing between normal and abnormal menstrual cycles, recognizing and managing gynecological disorders, understanding what to expect during menopause and available support, and coping with hormonal conditions and menstrual pain. We will be specifically working with Muslim women and other minority faith girls and women.
Receiving funding from the Women's Health Community Funds is a transformative opportunity for women facing challenges both inwardly and outwardly. The team is deeply grateful and optimistic that this marks the beginning of a brighter and healthier future for the women and girls who will benefit from your support
MacIntyre Charity
The project will support women with learning disabilities and autism to better understand menstrual health, hygiene, period education and potential issues around menstruation. This will be achieved by delivering co-produced workshops for women we support and support workers to improve knowledge, responses and management of periods for women with additional needs
Menopause Talk
The project will deliver information sessions, interactive workshops and guided walk and talk sessions on Menstruation, Menopause, Endometriosis, Adenomyosis and PCOS. to women from the Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities living in some of the most deprived areas across Birmingham and Sandwell (including Aston, Lozells, Sparkbrook, West Bromwich and Smethwick).
We are deeply grateful and thrilled to have secured funding for WomensHealth360, which will allow us to be a vital part of the conversations on menstruation, menopause, PCOS, endometriosis, and adenomyosis. This support empowers us to raise awareness, share essential information, and drive meaningful change for countless women and young girls for generations to come.
Yana Project
Project Yana aims to work with young people who have directly been affected by gang related violence, sexual grooming, criminal exploitation and domestic violence. After experiencing an unhealthy relationship as a teenager, Jenni made a promise to herself to not only rebuild her life and recognise her own self-worth but to also support other young people who have experienced abuse. The project will deliver the Menstrual Health tour and raise awareness to pupils that are high risk and need support to take control of their menstrual and reproductive health.
The Inform-All Project
A woman who is experiencing menopausal symptoms should never feel she needs to just cope on her own; she should feel listened to and heard. Unfortunately, in the Jewish community, this is not always the case. The founder, who formerly owned a magazine for midlife Jewish women, had a hysterectomy to treat her fibroids which put her into surgical menopause. In her community, the topic of menopause is taboo - women might joke in hushed voices about "the time of life," but honest and open conversation are rare. The Jewish Community, particularly the ultra orthodox, have little technical knowledge with no access to computers, and are hesitant to visit their doctors with their symptoms. The workshops, funded by the Women’s Health Community Fund, will allow the founder to host workshops and teach this community about what to expect from menopause, while working respectfully within the parameters of the women’s own beliefs.
To make a difference, all you need is a little help from a friend.
Break-Thru
The Aman group provides workshops and informed sessions for women (predominately South Asian women) in their native tongue as well as English. The workshops/informed sessions will be centred around health and wellbeing, including menopause. The aim is to inform beneficiaries on how to manage menopause symptoms, beliefs, guidance on diet and nutrition, as well as advice on heart and bone health.
