Breckland Mindful Towns

The Breckland Mindful District Partnership (BMDP) was established in 2021 to support our Mindful Towns and Villages programme. The purpose of the programme is to facilitate and enable a community-led approach to mental health and raise awareness of the support available to residents, endeavouring to make Breckland a 'Mindful District.'

Communities can achieve 'Mindful Town' or 'Mindful Village' status through free mental health education and awareness training programmes and explore opportunities to develop mindfully-focused community activity within their local areas.

The BMDP started as a collective of training providers and partner services have been integral to the success of Mindful Towns. As a result, we are expanding the partnership to include referral pathway organisations as well as training providers, ensuring that our partners are as diverse as our communities.

If you're an organisation who specialises in delivering training or valuable support services around mental health or issues that impact a person's mental health, we would love to hear from you. 

Become a Mindful Town Partner

Compassionate Communities

Enabling communities to develop a compassionate approach to end of life and promote improved health and well-being for anyone affected.

As a Mindful District, we recognise that mental health is diverse, and we have expanded the conversation to include the principles of Compassionate Communities in our Mindful Towns programme. We want to reduce the stigma around mental health when experiencing end of life care, bereavement, and grief, and support communities to implement social changes and develop their status as a Compassionate Community.

Partner Organisations

To find out more about each partner or to access their services, please follow the links below.

• Norfolk and Waveney Mind (opens new window)
• Wellbeing Norfolk and Waveney Service (opens new window)
• YANA - You Are Not Alone (opens new window)
• Swaffham and Litcham Home Hospice (opens new window)
• MensCraft (opens new window)
• Samaritans (opens new window)
• Family Action (opens new window)
• Miscarriage Association (opens new window)
• Widowed and Young (opens new window)
• Age UK Norfolk (opens new window)
• Caring Friends for Cancer - Mid Norfolk (opens new window)
• Dereham Cancer Care (opens new window)
• Suicide&Co (opens new window)
• Active Norfolk (opens new window)
• ASD Helping Hands (opens new window)
• Kooth - For children and young people (opens new window)
• Restoration Trust (opens new window)
• Scotty's Little Soldiers (opens new window)
• TimeNorfolk - Pregnancy Loss (opens new window)
• Marie Curie (opens new window)
• East Tuddenham Community Allotment (opens new window)
•  Dereham Deaf Social Club
• Matthew Project - Young People (opens new window)
• Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (opens new window)
• Community Action Norfolk (opens new window)
• Let's Talk About Loss (opens new window)

If you have any questions about the programme or becoming a partner, please contact us: community@breckland.gov.uk

How do we become a Mindful Town or Village?

All 5 market towns in Breckland have achieved the 'Mindful Town' status and we are excited to support our parishes to be recognised as a 'Mindful Village.' To achieve this, a number of representatives from a cross-section of the local community would need to commit to becoming Mental Health Community Champions by participating in a training session provided by the Breckland Mindful District Partnership (BMDP). This could include sports clubs, the local pub, small businesses, community organisations, the parish council, and more. Find out more about the training on our webpage.

Criteria

The BMDP training programme will be accessible to both individuals and collective groups interested in developing 'Mindful Village' status. To achieve this, the criteria is:

• Large Towns (+10,000) - 15+ champions
• Small Towns (-10,000) - 10+ champions
• Large villages (+2,500) - 7+ champions
• Small villages* (-2,500) - 5+ champions

*Where interest arises in our smaller parishes, individuals will be encouraged to collaborate to create a collective 'Mindful Village' that spans their boundaries, where interest exists but capacity is stretched.

In becoming a 'Mindful Village', the organisations represented would commit to upskilling a minimum of one member to undertake any element of the BMDP training. Following successful completion of the training, that member would become the mental health 'Champion' of that organisation: 

• Someone who is better placed to identify and engage in conversation with anyone presenting as needing support with their Mental Health.
• Someone better informed to signpost those people on to appropriate clinical or community support.

Apply for Mindful Town or Village status

When the required number of representatives have completed training course, a lead for your group should complete the application form below. Successful towns and villages will receive a pack of resources to promote their Mindful Towns status. 

Apply for Mindful Town/Village Status

What would I have to do as a 'Community Champion'?

Mindful Towns Community Champions use the skills and knowledge they learn on our training courses, within the settings of the community groups, businesses or organisations they represent.

They learn how to hold safe conversations with anyone who might be struggling with their mental health, and learn how signpost them towards appropriate support.

The role of Community Champion is not a substitute for professional help, but our free training courses give communities the knowledge and confidence to recognise a person in need and act appropriately to support them.

All training is delivered by our partners, which includes Norfolk and Waveney Mind and NSFT Wellbeing Norfolk and Waveney. See our full list of training and referral partners. 

Beyond the Training:

In addition to receiving your training certificate and course-specific resources, Mindful Towns Community Champions will also have access to the following:

• Quarterly Mindful Towns Newsletter 
• Access to Norfolk & Waveney Mind Mental Health Connectors Network
• Community development toolkits, advice and support via theBreckland Community Network
• Invites to peer workshop sessions to share best practice and hear from guest speakers

Book a training course

If your chosen course is full, please e-mail us your details to go on the waiting list: community@breckland.gov.uk 

Organisations who have taken part in our Mindful Towns & Villages programme make up our network of locally trained 'Wellbeing Champions' who can offer support. These trained volunteers can direct people towards appropriate support with empathy and help people avoid a mental health crisis by accessing support sooner. 

If you would like to become a Mindful Village like those listed below please visit ourBecoming a Mindful Town or Village webpage for further information.

Look out for our Mindful Town & Village logos and branding in and around your local area.