Harrow Conversation Café
On this page
- Lead Organisation
London Borough of Harrow
- Project contact
COVID restrictions had curtailed many of the face-to-face interactions that we take for granted and that are so critical for services such as adult social care to make a difference to peoples’ lives including unpaid carers.
In response, Conversation Café was created. The project focused on helping unpaid carers, and vulnerable people including disabled people and people who have mental health challenges.
At a time when a lot of information and advice is available in a digital format, we wanted this project to be accessible and provide support to those who did not have access to online resources and are digitally excluded.
Conversation Café is a weekly event held at locations across the borough, where people can visit without the need for an appointment. Unpaid Carers can come and share ideas and get support from each other, as well as get face to face support and advice from staff in the Harrow social care team, local charities, and community organisations. This includes help to develop skills to access online resources, manage emails and communicate with professionals electronically.
Due to the success of our initial pilot, Conversation Café is expanding to offer a further dedicate event for unpaid carers. The second phase of the Conversation Café launches in Summer 2024 in partnership with Harrow Carers our local carer charity.
We are always happy to welcome anyone to visit us in person to see what we do, especially if they are interested in launching their own café.
- Partners
Adult Social Care, Public Health, Harrow Carers, SWiSH, Age UK, St Peters Church, Citizens Advice Bureau, Woman’s Resourceful Network
- Project duration
September 2022 – ongoing
- Key beneficiaries
Unpaid Carers of all ages, people with disabilities, mental health and vulnerabilities.
Harrow Conversation Café
Why we started this initiative
The pandemic was a challenging time for those most vulnerable in Harrow and the people supporting them. We developed our pilot Conversation Café initiative because we recognised unpaid carers and disabled people may be feeling isolated and unable to access direct face to face support. People may not have ready access to online resources so we need to provide an alternative space where they could get support easily.
What we created aimed to show unpaid Carers that there was somewhere they could go on a regular basis to talk with other people in a similar situation as them and talk to staff from Harrow social care and other community support organisations.
Our goals
- The main goal of Conversation Café is for us to provide a welcoming and supportive place for people who have a caring role, disabled people and people who have mental health to access information, advice, and support.
- To provide an opportunity to socialise with other people and get peer support.
- To help people who cannot easily access online resources.
How we’re implementing it
We started with a weekly Friday afternoon drop-in at a local food surplus market with the Carers Lead and a senior social worker.
This was so successful we sourced other venues across the borough. We secured public health funding to support this and a vehicle to travel to different events and locations setting up a mobile Conversation Café gazebo to provide information/advice and support.
As we became busier, we decided we needed a permanent café held on a regular basis. We secured further funding from public health and the Household Support Fund to cover the cost of three part time Conversation Café coordinators and two CAB advisers to cover a regular weekly event. We have secured ongoing funding into 2024/25.
We now host Conversation Café every Tuesday from St Peter’s Church, West Harrow from 10am – 3pm with our partner charities and organisations.
We capture key themes (such as carer support, housing concerns, benefit concerns) that come up in requests for support so we can respond more effectively to them. We also capture valuable information such as gender, age, and ethnicity of our guests in addition to finding out where they may be excluded from being able to access support away from the café.
We have volunteers who have been supported by Conversation Café now giving their time to help others.
We have set up a dedicated webpage and email address for additional enquiries and support requests.
As well as people not able to access online resources, the café is well used by people who just prefer face to face engagement and feel more comfortable talking over a hot drink with a real person.
Making the event regular helps people return with confidence knowing there is someone who will try to help where possible and if not then make every effort to find the right person to help.
The café provides accessible support from the London Borough of Harrow and the team at the café are able to deal with most enquiries they receive and where needed signpost accordingly.
We have seen positive relationships develop between our guests, relationships that continue and where support is offered to each other away from Conversation Café.
We have encouraged people to become a part of our Conversation Cafe team and that has increased the positive impact of the project. For example, the person behind the Conversation Café initiative and two people who lead Conversation Café are unpaid Carers themselves.
Emmie, who started out as a volunteer at the café, is now a paid employee of Conversation Café, this is what she said about what the café has done for her:
“It has made a huge difference in my life. I am more confident, and I am learning more at every event. I do not feel as isolated as I have as an unpaid Carer over the years, caring for many family members with a range of disabilities. Volunteering at the café helped me into employment, and that has helped with our family’s financial circumstances.”
“Most importantly for me, I have more independence away from my caring role and have made some amazing friendships within the team. It does not feel like a job it feels like a social event. People are noticing the smile on my face.”
Tips if you are thinking of setting up a similar project:
· Find a venue that is at the heart of your community.
· Publicise your event as widely as possible remembering that not everyone is digitally included, use libraries, surgeries, newsletters, and notice boards.
· Providing refreshments creates a warm and welcoming environment.
· Work in partnership with charities and voluntary organisations in your community.
· Welcome volunteers.
· Meet regularly with your Conversation Café team so everyone is consistent, and the event is owned by all.
· Keep learning from the experience and feedback.
Images from this project
