Do you know where to turn if you need support with your mental health, wellbeing or finding work?
A Wolves at Work event in Wolverhampton brought local organisations together under one roof to help residents discover the services available to them. Held at the i10 hub last Thursday, the event gave residents the opportunity to speak directly to support providers, ask questions and find out what help is available locally. Organisations attending included WorkWell, Nova Training, Boost, Rethink Mental Illness and Gro Livewell.
For one woman attending the event, the support on offer was an opportunity to take a step towards finding work and getting her life back to normal.
“It has been helpful and it has been comfortable talking to other people, and that’s what I want to do,” she said. “I want to talk to so many people, to get some information at the same time.”
The woman said she had never used these services before, but speaking to people at the event had given her encouragement as she looked for a job and sought more support.
“I just thought I need to change my life around. I need more support, and that’s what I want to do,” she added.
David Ball, manager of Wolves at Work, said bringing services together could make it easier for people to access help without having to travel to different parts of the city.
“We’re trying to bring a lot of organisations into one place,” he said. “It can be difficult sometimes for people to travel to different places in the city. So having an opportunity where all organisations can come together under one roof, we’re hoping it makes it more accessible for people.”
He said conversations about mental health should happen throughout the year, not just at dedicated events.
“I think every time is the right time to be having a conversation about mental health,” he said. “In today’s society, people can have significant challenges, and mental health can impact their ability to move into employment and access other services.”
Ball added that making support more accessible was important so people did not have to travel long distances to find help.
“Not just today, but any day of the week is an important day to be talking about mental health and making services more accessible for people” – David Ball
According to Invest Wolverhampton, on celebrating its second anniversary in March 2026, the i10 hub had welcomed more than 17,000 residents, with more than 1,800 enrolling for tailored employment support and over 1,000 residents moving into work.
Giorgia Marchisio-King, a customer work coach, said the event helped residents understand what support was available for their mental and physical health.
“It’s really important for the people of Wolverhampton to know what support is out there,” she said, adding that bringing organisations together also allowed professionals to connect and signpost residents to other services.
She said asking for help could be difficult for people who were unsure how to explain what they were experiencing.
“It’s not easy to ask for help. It’s not easy for people to admit that they might have an issue,” she said. “Knowing that there is a central place in the city centre that people can just come to and get all the support they need under one roof is going to be really beneficial to all residents.”
Steven Chand, deputy principal and worker at The Recovery College Black Country, part of Black Country Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said events like this were important in helping residents discover the support available to them.
“It’s really important for the people of Wolverhampton to know what support is out there,” he said. “A lot of people don’t actually realise what is there to support them with their mental health, with their physical health.”
He added that bringing organisations together also helped professionals build connections and signpost people to other services. Speaking about mental health locally, Chand said loneliness and isolation had been ongoing concerns, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic still being felt.
“People suffer with loneliness and isolation. During that really difficult period, support structures broke down and the lasting effect is still continuing from that,” he said.
Chand stressed that mental health support was needed across all age groups, including young people and adolescents.
“It’s not just people of a certain age that are experiencing mental health [issues]. We’re talking about adolescent mental health, we’re talking about young people as well, so it’s important that they know what is around,” he said.
“Mental health isn’t discriminatory, so we see anyone and everyone come to our doors.”
For one man attending the event, it was also an opportunity to connect with local groups and learn more about services he could share with others. The man, who is neurodivergent and has long-term mental health conditions, said he had spent years undiagnosed as a teenager, which left him struggling to understand why he felt different from other people.
“I lived undiagnosed for long periods of time, especially when I was a teenager,” he said. “It created a lot of confusion within me because I didn’t understand why I was quite a bit different from other people.”
He now runs a small business focused on empowering others through creativity and breaking down barriers for people with similar conditions and those from low-income households. He said community connections and opportunities to socialise were important for wellbeing, while events like this helped raise awareness of the support available.
Another man, who heard about the event through a friend, said local services could be difficult to find when people needed them.
“There’s lots of good organisations doing good work, but when you need them, they’re very difficult to find,” he said.
He welcomed the opportunity to speak to providers face to face, rather than relying on emails and waiting for a response. He also hoped to pass information about mental health services back to the community groups he was involved with.
He said greater awareness of wellbeing was needed across Wolverhampton, highlighting inequalities in local health outcomes.
“There’s a lot of ignorance around wellbeing generally, and Wolverhampton is quite an unequal place when it comes to health outcomes,” he said. “So it’s good that it’s here in the middle of the city centre, so that people can see you.”
By bringing local services together under one roof, the event aimed to make support more accessible and help residents feel more confident about seeking it. With opportunities to speak directly to organisations, discover available services and connect with others, the event highlighted the importance of ensuring no one has to face mental health and wellbeing challenges without knowing where to turn.