Cash lifeline to safeguard Barnard Castle-based mental health charity

A MENTAL health support group has receiving cash to cover their costs for the next two years.
The Sufferers, Overcomers and Supporters (SOS) of People with Mental Issues group, which meets weekly in Barnard Castle, has been awarded £10,244 to cover their overheads.
Overjoyed SOS volunteer Barbara Wright said: “This will keep SOS Teesdale going.
“It will certainly provide our rent for two years, so we can keep our home and the running of the operation. We want to expand and do other activities. We’d like to do some art, crafts and maybe a bit of pottery.”
The group was started six years ago and came about during an afternoon tea in aid of a national mental health charity at The Witham.
Ms Wright, who suffered depression after the death of her husband, said: “At the end of the afternoon two gentleman, the one had PTSD and the other depression, talked among themselves about how beneficial it would be if there was a group that met in the same way.”
They formed the group, which began to meet monthly at The Witham until it closed for renovation four years ago.
SOS then moved to its current base at 5a King Street which it shares with Durham Deafened Support and Friends of Citizen’s Advice,
More recently a Chatty Crafts group took up residence after losing its meeting place when the United Reformed Church announced its closure.
SOS lost out when a grant run by Teesdale Action Partnership (TAP) was oversubscribed. But TAP officers Craig Morgan and Maggie Wilson stepped in to put the group’s volunteers in touch with a charitable trust and helped make an application.
Mr Morgan said: “Having met the volunteers and users of the SOS Cafe, it’s obvious that they just get on with things and make do. However, things like rent do need to be paid and it’s fantastic that they have been able to benefit from the support of the charitable trust.
“This will make sure that this vital service can continue over the next two years.”
Cliff Barrage, a veteran who served in Northern Ireland and suffers from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), said SOS welcomed people with a range of mental health issues such as depression and schizophrenia.
He added: “We try to be very sensitive to people – some people are very fragile. We laugh a lot, that is one of the most therapeutic things we do.”
Anyone interested can visit SOS at 5a King Street between 10am and 4pm each Wednesday and Thursday.