The Good Works Collective

Derby City & South Derbyshire Mental Health Carer's Forum meetings take place on the 3rd Friday of every month 💙

So why not pop along and see what help and support is available to you!

Or contact Sandra Austin for more information on 👇

📞07779 107 087
📩[email protected]

Bringing the seasonal whimsy 🍄‍🟫🍂🍁🪵

Join us on Thursdays at QUAD, Studio 2/3 first floor from 11am-1pm. Fully accessible venue with lift and a sensory friendly environment, led by autistic and neurodivergent peer facilitators

No experience or artistic skills necessary. Free to access no booking needed. Come join us and relax with like minded people 🪭
Joyful and authentic, great company
No mistakes, only side quests 🌅

Free, fully funded sessions for autistic and neurodivergent women
Warmly welcoming trans sisters and non binary folks.
Self identifying, exploring potential neurodivergence, waiting assessment, diagnosed, all valid, all welcome

All the Autumn vibes today 🍂🐿️🌻🍄🍄‍🟫🍁
Painting, sticking, threading. Gorgeous bunting to take home and admire through the incoming cosy season 🪵

Join us next week for Great Pumpkin as we paint, decoupage, print, colour and embellish our own mache pumpkins.

Free fully funded sessions for adult autistic and neurodivergent women, thanks to TNL community fund 🤎

No need to book, just turn up ☕️🫖

We are celebrating Harvest by coming together and sharing lunch!

During September the Church also celebrates Creation Season and you are warmly invited to a bring and share lunch together after the Harvest Festival.

We would like to encourage you to make your food contribution a L.O.A.F one (Local, Organic, Animal-friendly, Fair Trade). This means whatever item you are bringing, if possible, should fall within one of these categories. The aim of this is to help us think through our buying habits. We hope that some of St Mary’s Church parishioners will be joining us as well.

Being mindful of allergies and dietary restrictions, if you are happy to share your food offering, please label it accordingly (especially important for nuts, dairy or vegan).

The lunch will take place from about 12:30 pm and it will be in the Cathedral Nave after the Harvest Festival on Sunday 27th September!

📢 New report shines a light on the experiences of unpaid carers from Derby’s diverse communities

The most extensive engagement with carers from diverse communities ever undertaken in Derby has provided valuable insight into the realities of caring and the barriers many unpaid carers face in accessing support.

Our Derby Diverse Carers Report 2025/26 brings together the experiences of 169 carers who took part in a survey, alongside 446 participations across more than 30 facilitated group sessions delivered with 21 trusted community organisations.

Throughout the engagement, carers consistently described feeling unseen, unsupported and unsure where to turn for help.

💬 “You’re always there for everyone else, but no one is there for you.”

Carers told us about barriers, including a lack of culturally appropriate services and not knowing where to go for support. Isolation was also raised in every facilitated group session.

Based on what carers told us, three clear priorities emerged:

🔎 Earlier and more proactive identification of carers
🤝 Practical support to help carers navigate services
🏘️ Stronger community-based, culturally responsive support

A huge thank you to every carer who shared their experiences with us and to the community organisations that helped make these conversations possible.

Thanks also to Derby City Council, Universal Services for Carers in Derby, the Accelerating Reform Fund programme, Derbyshire Carers Association and NHS Derby and Derbyshire ICB for supporting this work.

What carers have told us will continue to shape the next phase of our work - watch this space!

📖 Read more and access the full report here: www.communityactionderby.org.uk/whats-on/latest-news/new-report-explores-the-experiences-of-derbys-diverse-carers

We’re looking forward to creating our own quirky Autumn Bunting tomorrow 🍁🍄‍🟫🍄🍂🪾

Come join us 11am-1pm at Derby QUAD

Free fully funded sessions for adult autistic and neurodivergent women, thanks to TNL community fund 🤎

Freckle Creative Derby Peace Week Hollieandlife Mosaicc Derbyshire Carers Association Your Recovery, Your Community - Derbyshire County Menopause Cafe Derby

Lovely volunteer powered community event coming up in Second Hand September ♻️🍂🍁🍄🍄‍🟫
Swap don’t shop 🪭
If you have no swaps, come rehome some preloved treasure and make a donation on the day

We are running another relaxing Sashiko stitching session tomorrow 🪡🧵if you missed out on the last one or would love another chilled Thursday in great company 🙂 please feel welcome to bring any items you’d like to customise, we will also have denim squares to frame and other items available to stitch make and take 🙂👖

https://www.japancrafts.co.uk/sashiko.html #/

Hello September…

It’s hard to let summer go when it’s been such a nurturing season but we are nature. And nature moves. Be led by what’s outside your window and give in to the flow 🍁

New month. Fresh chapter. Will you choose a word to guide you through?

(Do come and join my journalling group if you’re so inclined, we choose a word each month).

My word for September is FAITH

💛🍁

Looking forward to this eco swap and thrift event in September ♻️
alongside our friends at Women's Day Derby and Derby Peace Week with thanks to the West End Community Centre for supporting us 🙂
If you don't anything to swap you can still come along and rehome some amazing finds, make new friends, slow down fast fashion and make a donation to Women's Day Derby our vibrant, change making, annual IWD city festival powered by volunteers!