Skip to content

Club's mental health service thanks to drive-thru

Tom CookeLeamington Spa
News imageBBC A woman with blonde hair wearing glasses and a green jumper and red scarf smiles towards the camera, she is standing next to a man with grey hair smiling toward the camera. He is wearing glasses and a dark jacket and is standing next to a a bearded man with dark hair who is smiling toward the camera. He is wearing a grey knitted jumper. All three are stood in a line in a car park , wooden fencing and trees can be seen in the background.BBC
(Left) Sam Starling from Coventry Mind, Toby Arnold Chair of Warwick Sports Club, People Arches Ltd founder Dawood Ibtehsam, have joined forces to raise awareness of the mental health service

Mental health support that started at a McDonald's drive-thru in Warwick now has a new home at a local sports club.

Last year, support was offered in the car park of the McDonald's in Emscote Road, providing a one night-a-week service, which is now set to operate from the town's sports club.

The Safe Haven Coventry and Warwickshire service is an out-of-hours service run by mental health charity Coventry, Warwickshire and Worcestershire Mind.

Sam Starling, from Mind, said ''It's quite an unusual way to deliver this sort of mental health service in such a public space, but what we'd realised previously was that the service was quite isolated in a different part of town."

News imageSUPPLIED A white van with a fold out awning is parked in a car park outside a Mcdonald's drive through.SUPPLIED
The mental health service operated last August, from the car park of Mcdonald's on Emscote Road on Thursday evenings

Mind also found that moving to a more prominent location in the town made it easier for people to access support.

''They knew what Mcdonald's looked like, they knew where they could park. They didn't have to say to anybody 'I'm going to see somebody about my mental health' they could just say 'I'm going to Mcdonald's," said Ms Starling.

"So that was a really positive insight that kept us motivated to keep going with a slightly different way of delivering a service.''

The move to the sports club was prompted by the winter weather.

'Community at the heart'

The town's Mcdonald's, owned by franchisee Dawood Ibtehsam, 43, said he was pleased the collaboration had gone well.

"We're over the moon that our vision for the partnership... has become a reality and has proven to have helped people who needed it most, as well as to raise awareness for the service," he said.

"Community is at the heart of what we do at People Arches and the fact that we have provided a safe place for people to seek support is exactly the kind of thing we want to do to give back.

"We're looking forward to continuing the project and exploring other ways we can help the community in Warwick."

Toby Arnold, chair at Warwick sports club, said the club was pleased to help out.

''The opportunity came to work with Mind and the Safe Haven [team] which seemed to fit perfectly, and now it's been running a couple of weeks," he said.

"So we're feeling very comfortable with it, and it's an opportunity for the local community to benefit and maybe even some of our members, we'll just have to wait and see."

Follow BBC Coventry & Warwickshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.