A little
about the Centre
St. Margaret’s Centre is set in a beautiful old building overlooking Durham Cathedral with lots of artwork and colour everywhere you look. We want visitors and attendees of the Centre to feel welcome, relaxed and able to express themselves in a safe, comfortable, inspiring environment.
The centre has a car park for attendees, and is fully accessible to people with physical disabilities and limited mobility. We aim to ensure that nobody faces a barrier to using our services, and encourage feedback and suggestions.
St Margaret’s Centre is one of the partner organisations in the Durham Mental Wellbeing Alliance, commissioned by Durham County Council to provide a variety of mental health services across the County. To find out more, please visit their website.
How we can help
Health & Wellbeing Activities
We run a wide range of activities such as woodwork, joinery, arts and crafts, and gardening in social group environments that provide people with a space to be around others who might understand what they’re going through, while learning new skills.
Find out more:
Structured Volunteering
The centre offers a variety of opportunities for attendees to participate in volunteering and work experience, with training delivered at each individual’s pace and with consideration for their abilities and mental health. Volunteers will work in a team and individually on a regular ‘shift’, which helps to provide a sense of routine that can be helpful with managing wellbeing.
- In the Community Café, attendees can learn about working in a hospitality environment, and gain qualifications in Food Hygiene and Allergen Awareness. This space provides the opportunity for people to develop their confidence with dealing with members of the public in a customer service role.
- In our workshop there are opportunities to support the centre within our trading arm, The Old School Woodcrafts, which designs and makes wooden and crafted gifts and decorative items for customers around the country. In this space, attendees can learn about a variety of different tasks such as working with hand tools and machinery, product design, and aspects of business management.
Access to a Mental Health Support Worker
St Margaret’s Centre has a dedicated Support Worker to help with a wide variety of issues that can impact someone’s mental health and wellbeing, including: housing, benefits, debt management, relationship problems, and healthy living. As well as offering practical support, the Support Worker and all centre staff are available to provide emotional support during difficult times in people’s lives.
Self Management Courses
Delivered by the centre’s Mental Health Support Worker, our self-management courses aim to provide self-help strategies for managing anxiety and low mood, building confidence and self-esteem, and tools to manage problems in a more positive way. Based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, these sessions help people to think more rationally, instead of allowing negative thoughts to take over, which gives people more control over their lives. Techniques including mindfulness, distraction, controlled breathing, meditation and relaxation are taught to help people make changes that can help them deal with difficult situations in a calmer way.
Community Mental Health Cafe
A safe and welcoming place for people to mix with a wider social circle, access volunteering opportunities, and talk openly about their feelings while enjoying a wide selection of reasonably priced food and drinks. A friendly face can make the difference between a good day and a bad one, and the St Margaret’s Centre ‘Chatty Cafe’ scheme provides people in the community with a space to go for a warm welcome and conversation.
Find out more here
Meet the Team
At the heart of St Margaret’s Centre are a small team of experienced professionals from different walks of life.
Rob changed direction and started to work for NACRO services which is a national training provider, working with excluded pupils, unemployed adults and young people
Relocating to the North East in 2000, Rob spent 9 years employed by the NHS supporting people recovering from mental health problems. Since 2009, Rob has been employed as the manager of St Margaret’s Centre.
She works as the Arts Instructor at the centre, and is involved in a wide range of activities, specialising in drawing, painting, graphic design and music tuition.
She is responsible for the centre’s promotional artwork.
Prior to joining the team, Andrea volunteered at the Hub of Wishes in Newton Aycliffe for 2 years, of which she spent 1 year as a trustee on their committee.
She is passionate about supporting those with mental health problems and takes great pride in seeing people on the road to recovery.
