Valley Steps is a well-established wellbeing charity in South Wales. They offer courses to people which are evidence-based, open to everyone, easy to access, and free of charge. Their goal is to empower people to help themselves, to bring about meaningful change, and to make a difference in local communities. Their aim is to make it as easy as possible for people to manage life’s difficulties and improve everyday well-being.
The Valleys Steps initiative began within the Cwm Taff Health Board, an area which serves the people of Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr, where there were the highest rates of mental health issues in England and Wales. Their courses were developed as a toolkit for people to develop their own knowledge and skills to better manage their own mental health. Following successful piloting of the courses, Valleys Steps was created as a charity, commissioned by the Health Board to provide effective alternatives to psychological interventions and antidepressants. When the Health Board expanded, Valleys Steps also expanded to include the area of Bridgend.
The offer two key courses: ‘Mindfulness for everyday’ and ‘Steps to well-being’. ‘Mindfulness for everyday’ is based on Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). This course teaches mindfulness skills which can integrated in a manageable way into everyday lives. It can be helpful for managing stress, combating low mood, dealing with anxieties, and boosting general wellbeing. To support the maintenance of mindfulness practice and encourage the motivation of those who have attended the course, they also offer a weekly online half-hour drop-in class. More recently they have started to offer the ‘Living in the Present’ mindfulness course, for people living within the area served by Aneurin Bevan UHB, which places emphasis on less formal ways of practising mindfulness. They also deliver taster mindfulness sessions to community groups and local key employers, and within the education field, they offer a six-week resilience programme and a mindfulness programme.
At the heart of the work of Valleys Steps is the goal to make their courses accessible, working collaboratively within the local communities that they serve. The courses are open access and free for all at the point of delivery:
“The premise of what we do is removing barriers for people. We deliver in venues that people are familiar with. We deliver deliberately outside of NHS settings, so we deliver in local libraries…local community centres…rugby clubs…local museums where they have a community meeting space…church halls…so we try to make it as accessible for people as possible. So we deliver in the mornings, or in the afternoon or evening. People don’t need to register. People don’t need to be referred…People don’t need to share personal details…people just turn up and take a seat and that’s that.”
In these group settings, participants see other people having similar experiences and so feel less isolated and stigmatised. However, they do also offer the courses regularly online, for enhanced ease of access and especially for those who perhaps may feel overwhelmed walking into a room of unfamiliar people. Community engagement in mindfulness is an ongoing challenge for an organisation working in areas with high levels of multiple deprivation and intergenerational unemployment. Being physically based within the local communities, and working collaboratively with local venues and organisations, further embeds what they do into the localities that they serve.
The team have received very positive evaluations of their two core courses. During their first three years they were evaluated by the Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care (‘WIHSC’) at the University of South Wales. This demonstrated meaningful improvements to people’s wellbeing for each course, with people reporting maintenance of the same levels of wellbeing six months after they had completed the course. They now continue to evaluate their courses routinely, demonstrating ongoing positive outcomes. This evidence supports their vision to continue to broaden their reach, and their aspiration to become an all-Wales charity.
Watch Richard Bundy talking to The Mindfulness Initiative Global Network about their work here.
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