Listening Lounge Update
Hi everyone,
My name is Laura and I am currently working as a Group Supports Officer for the Listening Lounge at CoMHWA. My role involves the day-to-day running of our existing Listening Lounge groups and co-facilitating them with our skilled peer volunteer facilitators Monti and Jake, amongst other responsibilities.
Being able to attend a weekly, free peer mental health support group when I was younger was probably the biggest thing that help me rediscover joy and get my life back on track. This was at a time when I felt lost, my mental health was at one of it’s worst ebbs, I was unemployed, had moved cities and didn’t have any local supports. Participating in these groups helped me regain my confidence, sense of self, joy in life and to develop strong friendships with people who get it.
Unfortunately in 2023 a lot of WA’s core peer support group programs had lost funding and had to shut down, leaving a void for people who regularly use these services. Thankfully the newly appointed mental health commissioner Maureen Lewis came to the CoMHWA 2023 AGM and listened. She listened and heard consumers including myself and Rahul Seth (Activate Mental Health) talk about how the loss of funding and therefore closure of core peer programs in the community, and how these sorts of peer-led and free to attend programs are vital for helping people with mental health issues stay well in the community and build friendships and confidence. They also are key for helping support people in those times when they experience significant waitlists or cost barriers in accessing mainstream support.
Thankfully Maureen was kind enough to give CoMHWA a go of co-designing a new up-to-date peer mental health support group program and trialing it, which we did in 24-25.
Group Update
Since holding our first Listening Lounge mental health support group in March, we have held 30 groups, with a total of 53 unique people giving the Listening Lounge ago across two locations in our first four months. The majority of the groups are made up of returning regulars, with 102 of the people attending group in last 4 months being returning attendees. At time of writing, an average of 5.1 people attend group each week (3.9 at Leederville and 6.3 at Cloverdale).
Total participants who felt:
Diagrams based on summary Statistics of Weekly After-Group Survey for all groups run until 30th June 2025.
Here is some of the feedback we have received from people who have come to the Listening Lounge about what they enjoyed most about group:
“Feeling understood and connected, in a safe space to talk about what’s going on in my life, has been incredibly helpful and healing from just this one session.”
“Everyone being welcoming. This is a safe space. It is a physically comfortable space.”
“How open, vulnerable and attentive everyone was.”
“Meeting new people. Listening to other’s stories.”
“Sharing with people”
“The discussion topic!! Something I had no knowledge on but was thankful for it.”
“Finding out about different apps and activities”
“Different way of looking at things. Interesting”
“Facilitators are always patient and respectful of people’s thoughts and feelings.”
“The participation of each person, it was good that everybody participated. It’s good to see everyone’s opinions, especially when you don’t have anyone to talk to.”
“Appreciating real struggles/issues people face.”
“Comfortable space, fidget toys”
“Snacks !!!”
“Loved it! And loved the app suggestion, great for alexithymia. Intriguing contributions and willingness to understand/listen”
“Today session was meaningful and thought provoking!! Thank u”
“The group was again super helpful in being compassionate and kind. Thank you.”
We are putting together a large report on the co-design and full evaluation results which we are hoping to have done by end of August.
What is coming in 2025-2026?
Six new Listening Lounge groups will be starting in and around new locations in Perth over the next year. We will also be starting one new online group.
What if I want to try now?
You are more than welcome to come along and try one of our existing groups. The groups are free, weekly and are open to anyone over the age of 18 who would like support with their mental health.
Leederville Group
Weekly on Monday 6-8pm
Vincent Community Centre, Leederville
Cloverdale (Belmont) Group
Weekly on Tuesdays 6-8pm
CoMHWA Office, Cloverdale
Hope to see you there,
Laura
