"Social Inclusion and Wellbeing Team and Library Services in Nottingham City"

Library Services in Nottingham City have been working in partnership with the Social Inclusion and Wellbeing Team to provide volunteering opportunities for service users. The St Anns, Meadows, Hyson Green and the City Central Library have a number of services they provide to benefit the community. They have taken on volunteers to help with the conversation groups, the language café and homework clubs. The conversation groups and language café brings people together from all backgrounds, cultures and countries with the common aim of learning English through conversations. Through enjoying casual chatting people in the groups not only improve their English but also gain self-confidence and engage with the wider community. Nottingham is a multi-cultural city and programmes such as these encourage a sense of community spirit and unity as people come together with a mutual goal to learn English in a fun, relaxed and inclusive atmosphere. The conversation groups provide additional support to those who English is not their first language, by giving people a place to talk, share and make friends from all different backgrounds. There are increasing numbers of asylum seekers who are using mental health services due to traumas, which they have experienced and many have been signposted to these groups as an aid to their recovery. The Social Inclusion and Wellbeing Team can support service users to gain and work through volunteering opportunities such as at the Libraries. If required support workers can help through the initial stages of volunteering, until the support is no longer needed.

The Social Inclusion and Wellbeing Team have highlighted the lack of service provision in the area of arts and crafts and the Library Services have responded by rolling out arts and crafts activities and wellbeing sessions from March onwards in different libraries Nottingham especially at Clifton library.