A Derry neighbourhood organisation has established a women's group to help combat loneliness in the local community.
The Creggan Neighbourhood Partnership provides classes to help the local community socialise and learn new skills and provide a network of neighbours.
After the success of groups such as an older women's group, the organisation is now expanding to include a women's group available to all women in the local community of any age.
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Danielle Devine spoke to MyDerry about the importance of creating a space for people to socialise after the COVID-19 pandemic.
She said: "The importance of having these local women’s groups after covid is massive, particularly for people’s mental health and wellbeing. We found that anxiety and mental health after the pandemic is a major issue.
"We want to help reintegrate women into their community again and build their support networks. You might not think you’re doing a lot just providing a space for women to socialise but the difference in their confidence is amazing."
Creggan Neighbourhood Partnership has provided drop in's and classes for specific ages or for mums with young kids, but now they want to open up their services to all women.
Danielle said: We have an older women's group and it has been a lifeline for them. They come religiously every week. We wanted to bridge that gap and extend the age group involved to include women who did not have children or women whose children had grown up.
"Our primary focus is the Creggan area and it is for them to build relations. We want to open it up to the women in the whole community and make it an inter generational project to help women socialise after the pandemic. We want to create a support network for these women within their local community so they have people they can rely on in their times of need."
For Danielle, she has already seen changes in confidence in women taking part in other classes and sessions, and can only imagine the difference the women's group will make.
She said: "The friendships that grow from it is one of the main things, and they are all from the local area so they are nearby and can help each other out when they need it. We have seen their confidence grow from some women that might just initially want to sit and observe and they end up going out of their comfort zone and taking part and sometimes even leading activities.
"It is a comfortable environment to allow women to not feel self conscious about activities and help their confidence grow. We want to make it as inclusive as we can, starting within our local community and hopefully expand in the future."
The first session of the new women's group will take place on Wednesday September 7 at 10.00am for a coffee morning introduction.
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