Northamptonshire car wash providing mental health support for staff
The car wash is dedicated to creating meaningful employment opportunities that not only benefit individuals but also the local community
Owen Jones, managing director of The Ethical Car Wash Company in Northampton, said the business was born out of a desire to help people after he faced his own mental health issues.
The community interest company, offers its staff emotional support in a variety of forms in order to help them cope with their mental health problems.
Mr Jones said his plan was to employ people "who find traditional working environments a struggle".
Speaking to Mr Jones about the mental health benefits of car washing he said:
"There's something really quite therapeutic about washing a car, you can get a few done in a day and each time you wash one you get a sense of satisfaction and the customers smile and says thank you.
"One of our workers suffers quite severely from anxiety issues, but as part of working for us my co-director Nigel Booth who is an executive coach by training is putting a package together to help him deal with his anxiety.
"You don't have a boss hanging over your head, you're responsible for yourself and I think that's why it benefits our workers because they can just get on with it.
The car wash isn't just ethical by name, Mr Jones told us about how they keep their practises ethical by using a maximum of 2-3 buckets of water even on bigger cars and travelling from customer to customer on bike, to reduce carbon footprint.
Not only do Owen and his team do work that benefits individuals they are also making a positive impact on the surrounding community.
Speaking about the community Owen said: "We'd love people to get involved, if people have any particular skills in areas such as admin or marketing we'd love you to help out, even if it's just a bit of door knocking.
While the business remains strictly a car wash for the time being, Mr Jones did speak about plans to branch out, including ethical ironing!