Kintsugi Hope
The pandemic left its mark on all of us in different ways, but one thing it has taught us all is the importance of looking out for each other and focusing on our own mental wellbeing.
Kintsugi Hope is a charity based in the UK striving to make a difference to people’s mental wellbeing.
“Kintsugi” (金継ぎ)is a Japanese technique for repairing pottery with seams of gold. The word means ‘golden joinery’ in Japanese. This repairs the brokenness in a way that makes the object more beautiful, and even more unique than it was prior to being broken. Instead of hiding the scars it makes a feature of them.
Kintsugi Hope want to see a world where mental and emotional health is understood and accepted, with safe and supportive communities for everyone to grow and flourish.
A Kintsugi Hope Group is a safe and supportive space for people who feel or have felt overwhelmed, providing tools for self-management in a facilitated peer mentoring style setting.
It consists of a structured yet flexible series of 12 weeks of content, which includes group and individual activities designed to help participants to accept themselves, to understand their value and worth, and grow towards a more resilient and hopeful future.
The role of the Group Leader is to facilitate the sessions using the material available, signposting people if necessary to further help and support. It can feel vulnerable and scary starting a group, but the benefit of a Kintsugi Hope Group is that Group Leaders are not on their own.
Issues covered include; disappointment, loss, anxiety, anger, perfectionism, shame and resilience.
Kintsugi Hope is a small charity, and one with limited resources. It is also one that is very close to my heart, as my late mother was an early adopter and national ambassador for the charity.
For more information, take a look at the website https://kintsugihope.com/
I look forward to supporting the good work of Kintsugi Hope during my tenure as FOIL President.
Pete Allchorne FOIL President
