Don't suffer in silence, says the cafe bringing mental health support to Redcar

A Redcar woman is using her own experiences with anxiety and depression to reach out to others struggling with similar issues.

The Bohemia Yoga Cafe was Diana Higgs' answer to the missing support network in the town.

Offering yoga and wellbeing classes as well as mental health help.

Diana left an emotionally abusive marriage, and struggled with anxiety while leaving a draining, high-powered job and setting up her new venture.

But she persevered with Bohemia, and now it’s up and running – she’s determined it can become a place where others find help and support.

They offer holistic classes and yoga as a flexible way of helping people work through depression, as well as serving healthy food – specialising in vegetarian and gluten free options.

Diana tells us more;

“We’ve tried to make it as feasible as possible – you’re not tied in to going week after week, because one of the problems with depression and anxiety is you can feel really good one week and want to do it,

“Then the next week you just really really want to shut the world away and don’t want to do anything.”

She thinks a decent support network for mental health sufferers is hard to find on Teesside;

“I think it’s missing from a lot of places, since opening this I’ve had people ask me if I’m going to franchise and open one in Middlesbrough and Saltburn,

“And they’re the kind of places I kind of expected to already have stuff like this going on.”

“Redcar’s normally the last and the one furthest behind doing anything,

“There’s certainly a lot of charities and groups working really hard, it’s just not enough.”

Diana is also an avid supporter of Eva Women's Aid, who help families escape and move on from Domestic abuse.

You can find out more about Bohemia Yoga Café and Eva Women's Aid through their websites.