New Compassionate Cafés in St Albans

Two new cafés are coming to St Albans!

We are delighted to be expanding our Compassionate Café offering in St Albans with the launch of our first CompassionART Café and a new partnership with Abbots Kitchen and St Albans Cathedral.

Compassionate Cafés are drop-in sessions that provide a safe space for people who have experienced bereavement, or are lonely due to illness, to connect with other people in their community who understand. They are a safe space for people to come together and each session is facilitated by trained volunteers who provide emotional support and a listening ear.

The new CompassionART Café launch builds on the existing format by giving people an opportunity to express themselves through art and crafts. The first Rennie Grove Peace CompassionART Café launched in March at Café on the Corner, on Catherine Street, and will take place on the first Thursday of every month between 2-3.30 pm.  For the launch, the Café hosted an Easter card making workshop with volunteers from Camphill Village Trust.

New Compassionate Café at St Albans Cathedral – launching Monday 7 April

Next month we are also launching a new Compassionate Café at St Albans Cathedral, in partnership with Abbots Kitchen and St Albans Cathedral. The first session will be on Monday 7 April and will then take place on the first Monday of each month from 2:00 – 3:30pm. As well as giving people a space to talk to others about their loss, trained volunteers will be on hand to listen and provide support

Janet attends one of our other Compassionate Cafés where the CompassionART Café format was trialled. After the session she said:  

“I think this format of combining the chat and cuppa you get at a Compassionate Café with being creative is really beneficial. I really like the idea of CompassionART Cafés as they give people something to focus on while chatting.”

Alison May is our Community Engagement Manager. She says:  

“We are delighted to be expanding our Compassionate Café offering in St Albans. Our existing cafés have proved to be an invaluable addition to the communities they serve – providing a safe space for people to talk about grief or loneliness. Working with St Albans Cathedral will help us to bring these benefits to even more people in St Albans.

“Launching our first CompassionART Café will help us tap into the wellbeing benefits of arts and crafts. Not only do they help with relaxation and mindfulness, they give people something to focus on and a creative outlet to express themselves. Art can be a fantastic way to convey emotions and reduce stress so we’re pleased to be launching our new CompassionART Café to bring this support to local people.”

Our Compassionate Cafés and CompassionART Cafés are here for you. Please do join us if you could use some support.