Waveney Women’s Health Information Centre

We have been supported over all these years by local volunteers who have given thousands of hours of their time to help and encourage when needed.

Waveney Women’s Health Information Centre (WWHIC) was started 22 years ago. We only worked with women, and predominantly for those with unresolved health problems. Since then we have evolved and now we work with women to help them with multiple needs, our services often having knock-on positive effects throughout their whole family.

We work in local schools, and until recently on the youth bus.

We take courses, workshops and help to the outlying areas of Waveney as well as running a busy centre in Lowestoft.

Our services include:
• Free counselling
• Phobia clinic (one to one)
• Wellbeing coaching sessions (one to one)
• Free and low-cost courses and workshops on a wide range of physical, holistic, mental and emotional health areas in venues across Waveney.
• Free hand massages for older people in residential care homes and day centres across Waveney
• Teaching sexual health and infection protection in local secondary schools
• Drop-in services at our centre in Lowestoft: listening ear, free pregnancy testing, free condoms, health information in a friendly and accessible environment
• Outreach drop-in service available at our monthly outreach in Beccles and also at all courses and workshops.
• Supporting the Visually Impaired group which meets monthly at our centre

Last year alone we saw 770 young people and 1606 adults, and were contacted by phone by many more, to great benefit.

Other organisations appreciate the work we do:

“ Staff at Waveney Women’s Health Information Centre (WWHIC ) provide a variety of services to local women, whether you just need advice, signposting, or wish to learn more and attend workshops, the service they provide is invaluable to the local community and a lot of organisations like the Police refer victims in their direction for help and support. In their current location WWHIC are close to the town centre and easily accessible to the public, and I sincerely hope they are successful in securing further funding to enable the project to continue”.

“(WWHIC) has provided valuable insight into the numerous issues that surround incidents of domestic abuse and violence…”

“… I have seen at first hand the range and diversity of services that they offer. In this capacity, the Centre provides an invaluable service to victims of abuse and works with them to help build their confidence and self esteem which in turn lays the foundations for some of them to be able to proceed as a witness within the court process.”

“The lessons WWHIC have developed are active and fun and always delivered in a calm, realistic and friendly manner….We have always found WWHIC staff supportive, reliable and professional, and are really pleased to consider them as part of our school community and ourselves as part of their network.”

“WWHIC provides a fantastic service, helping our community in a great many ways, and our students benefit greatly from their visits”

“(The surgery) refers patients frequently to your service and is familiar with what you do. (Westwood Surgery) is also very appreciative of it.”

We need around £70,000 to continue running our centre and services at their current level for another year – small donations are as important to us as large ones.

We are appealing to all of you – can you help us?

Can you arrange a coffee morning on our behalf, or sell a few unwanted items to boost our funds?

If we can raise enough funding to pay for our premises rental, we will be able to continue our drop-in service (listening ear, pregnancy testing, condoms and health information) which will be run by volunteers and trustees of the charity, but unless we can secure substantial funding, we will not be able to continue to employ our outreach worker and centre coordinator, or continue with many of our important services such as workshops and courses, counselling and outreach.