Vanclaron was initially set up by Dr. Edith Iheama. Dr Edith's experience of being an asylum seeker in the UK damaged her and her young family’s mental health. The experience led her to found Vanclaron - it working to fill a gap in mental health provision.

1. Their Work

   Vanclaron was initially set up by Dr. Edith Iheama, an NHS public health practitioner who led various health promotion programmes. Dr Edith's experience of being an asylum seeker in the UK raised questions about the gap between clinical referral to NHS services and refugees. The experience led Dr Edith to found Vanclaron; it working to fill that gap in mental health provision. Vanclaron offers a range of 1:1 and group services that take a wraparound approach to improving people's financial circumstances including support accessing and improving employment opportunities, budgeting advice, co-developing support/action plans, energy-saving advice, volunteering opportunities for CV enhancement, and support accessing welfare entitlements. The Community Health Awareness Training (CHATS) programme aims to address the gap in wellbeing awareness and health needs of Black and Ethnically Minoritised communities. This is done through the delivery of mental health awareness training and 1:1 Mental Health First Aid to Black and Ethnically Minoritised, refugees, and asylum seekers.

2. Catalysing Vanclaron: The Programme

   Before the Make it Big programme, Vanclaron had recently relocated to a new community hub, where it had and has been providing its services. Vanclaron uses the space to generate income, renting it out to other community organisations. However, despite being a new space for organisation, it was still in need of modernisation. For the organisation to take full advantage of the space, it needed to be improved, with capacity needing to be added, for that space to be marketed. Do it Now Now, in turn, has provided Vanclaron CIC with the opportunity, to do this. This has allowed the community hub to generate more revenue, whilst also facilitating the improvement of its well-being hub facilities, and providing the materials required for its, programmatic, workshop-based, offering.

3. The Impact

   The Make it Big programme – with the income generated by the revitalised community centre and the programme’s accompanying financial advice – has provided Vanclaron with the opportunity to materially improve the quality of beneficiaries’ lives, significantly reducing the number of people presenting at crisis level, and reducing the financial impact on the NHS and other organisations. The Vanclaron team has stated that this has also reduced the levels of sickness seen in their respective communities, with employers also noting a consequent increase in productivity, too.

4. What’s Next?

   Vanclaron will now be working to develop its organisational strategy and build its capacity. Because the new community hub is leased for five years – with the potential to extend – and the Make it Big programme has provided Vanclaron with the knowledge and financial support to utilise it fully – allowing Vanclaron to make necessary capacity-increasing improvements, to it – Vanclaron has been able to confidently contract with the University of Derby and Nottingham Trent University, to offer paid placements to those institutions’ social work and nursing students, respectively. These sessions are held at its hub and generate income for Vanclaron.