News Flash!!

We have secured our new premises! Our service will be based in the brand new Gemini Centre at the heart of Hartlepool and will include our cafe, sessional space and office. We're still waiting for a moving date but all of the Choices for Life team are very excited to get moved and we will keep you updated with everything as we find out.

Bath Bomb Making

Following our pamper sessions at Hartlepool College of Further Education we decided to hold a session in DIY beauty products with the main focus being on creating bath bombs. This gave our service users the chance to try a cheap and cheerful way of pampering themselves whilst also getting to be creative and a little messy, which is also fun!

Art Club

Our art club has really started to take off in the past few weeks with a lot of creative service users attending on a week to week basis. Recently we have been running longer programs with the club where we focus on one area of art for between 4-6 weeks to allow people to create some exciting finished pieces whilst also allowing those who are interested in working on their own art pieces such as drawings and paintings the space to do so and access to advice as well.


This month we will be looking at textile art and the first workshop looked at silk painting. Here is a sneak peak of some of brilliant work they started this week. We'll be sure to show off the finished pieces once they're done!

Pamper Sessions

After the big success of our cookery course at Hartlepool College of Further Education we are now running a pamper course with them too. This has helped Service Users to learn manicures, facials, how to use and choose correct products and more! It's been a lovely chance to get together for a girly evening whilst also learning skills that they can take away with them and put into their everyday life. We're always looking to involve more Service Users so if you would like to get involved get in touch with your key worker or contact Lucy on the number above.

Open Afternoon

Just wanted to give a big thanks to all that attended our Open Afternoon. We had a great and informative few hours with everything from circus skills, mosaic, questionnaires, a quiz, a raffle and a nice relaxing sharing of tea, coffee and chat. It was a great help to all of us at Choices for Life to hear from such a large group of our Service Users and we look forward to putting everything we learnt into our service!

Jubilee Crafts

Here are a few of the wonderful crafts that were created for the Jubilee. The bunting was a mammoth task but with the help of Service Users and the residents of Hartlepool we managed to print a massive 22 metres of bunting using foam stamps! Our inspiration was the 1950s and of course the Queen. Hopefully we'll be able to get some photos of the bunting hanging up in the future as we plan to keep it for future events.

And here we have some examples of the dancing figures that kids were invited to cut out and colour in. We also had crowns to make but they were such a success we didn't have any left to take photos of!

Jubilee Weekend (June 2nd/3rd 2012)

Apologies for the lack of post until now but we at Choices for Life have had a busy weekend joining in with the Jubilee celebrations! The whole event was a huge success. Our information stand attracted a lot of interest despite the bad weather (on Saturday in particular) and there was really positive feedback from everyone, Hartlepool residents and those who'd traveled from further afield, whether they themselves had a mental health need, knew someone who did or were just interested in talking about mental health. There was also some very popular crafts on the stall with dancing Queen's Guards, Corgis and Beefeaters to be coloured and cut out as well as crowns that could be coloured in and worn, allowing adults the chance to chat about our service whilst their kids were busy.

On Sunday our Staff and Service Users took part in the Big Lunch. We were all treated to a big selection of picnic treats created by Service Users who were able to gain their Food Hygiene certificate in preparation. The spread was amazing and it was a wonderful experience to sit down as a large group that included our Service Users, Choices for Life staff and staff from some of the other services who provide support for our Service Users. The marquee setting was impressive with live music and activities including circus skills and recycled rangoli portrait making by Choices for Life Sessional Staff. 

A big thanks to everyone who was involved and we are all looking forward to our next big event!