Leeds woman launches female mental health support group after struggling to find one
A Leeds woman, who was struggling to find mental health support groups just for women, is launching her own service
A woman from Leeds, who tried to find a mental health support group for her friend, just for women and struggled, is launching her own discussion group.
Sophie Ranson, 31, wanted the equivalent of Andy's Man Club, a talking group that discusses issues and problems they are facing, but found nothing.
She now hopes to expand across Leeds, if the first mental wellbeing group, which is launching tonight, (Monday 11 September), is a success.
Sophie told us: "I'm doing this because I was trying to find some support for a friend who was going through a hard time, I knew of the amazing work Andy’s Man Club had done and I wondered if there was anything similar for women.
"I reached out on social media and couldn’t find any but it became clear from the response that this was something that was well needed. I went away and thought about how I could make it happen and then I did just that".
She hopes to run the support group on the 2nd Monday of every month.
Sophie also said: "My original post has had 533 shares now and I’ve had over 50 messages from women across Leeds to say this is something they really need and are so pleased this has now been set up.
"I've had offers of multiple venues across Leeds so we can open it up to people, who maybe can’t drive or aren’t local to Gildersome.
"I’ve had offered from qualified counsellors to help facilitate. The response has been incredible."
The first session is taking place at St Peter’s Church in Gildersome between 7.30-9pm.