The Kingstanding-based retirement service on Dulwich Road provides independent living with additional housing management for people over the age of 55. Residents there are now benefitting from weekly group workshops which engage them on matters ranging from loss and grief to happiness.

Co-ordinated and delivered by Fauzia Begum, Health and Wellbeing Officer at Witton Lodge, the sessions aim to boost participants emotional, physical and mental wellbeing through shared experience.

“The benefits of talking, listening, sharing your feelings, your thoughts, your fears and ideas are very powerful,” said Fauzia. “If people feel isolated this can increase their sense of hopelessness and vulnerability. This can seriously impact their health in all sorts of negative ways.

“The sessions I deliver are to bring people together, to make them feel connected so that they understand they are not alone in how they feel. Making these type of connections increases peoples’ sense of belonging which helps their confidence and self-esteem so they adopt a more positive approach to their daily routine.”

Ashfak Shaikh, Manager of the Midland Heart Housing Association scheme, said: “The relationship between mental wellbeing and good physical health is well known, and this becomes more crucial as we get older.

“It’s important for Midland Heart as a landlord to make our homes great places to live, where our customers are happy, and that’s why partnerships like this one with Witton Lodge are so valuable. Fauzia’s workshops are popular with our residents, who see them as a great source of support and have enjoyed being able to connect with their neighbours in a way they hadn’t before.”