About us

Our story.. Our why

Temple Well-Being CIC was founded by Shar Simpson in June 2022 after experiencing and overcoming her own challenges with physical & mental health issues, and emotional well-being from her teenage years, yet still stands strong in the battle of life, all while encouraging and supporting her children through their own challenges and mental health issues. Having experienced first-hand a lengthy wait and process to receive counselling, she utilised her toolkit of skills and resources to help to prevent her children’s mental health from declining, noticed the positive changes, and recognised the need to bridge that gap from initial contact with the GP/CAMHS to consultation with the counsellor/therapist.

A single mother raising 3 boys aged 5, 9 & 19 with no support network, a Sickle Cell Warrior, an IPHM accredited Relaxation Coach, Mentor and L3 Youth Work student in her final month of study, Shar trained with Relax Kids in 2012 and developed a toolkit of resources using research-based mindfulness & relaxation techniques alongside other values and positive psychology such as growth mindset, strength-building, gratitude, resilience and compassion. She has 12 years of experience working in various pastoral roles within the secondary education sector, including a Behaviour/Inclusion Support Worker role in Alternative Provisions and a Progress Coach in College. This was an opportunity for her to utilise the strategies and techniques she had learnt as a Relaxation Coach to help the young people she mentored in the schools and colleges develop emotional intelligence so they could take control of their emotions and behaviour.

Unfortunately, Shar resigned from work due to ill health in 2016 as she was recovering from a severe Sickle Cell crisis, and after the birth of her youngest child in 2017, she made the decision to take time out to raise her 3 sons alone and prioritise her children and well-being. This had a positive impact on her health mentally and physically as the frequency of her Sickle Cell crises pain reduced significantly and she weaned herself off the long term medication as she adapted to natural, holistic lifestyle changes!

Adversity has taught me:

To accept and embrace life’s challenges – It is what it is!
Mindset is everything!
It’s our challenges, difficult moments, pain, fears and losses that shape us, they’re what makes our story unique and pushes us into a space and place where we can bloom and evolve into who we are called to be.
Life isn’t happening TO us, its happening FOR us!

In 2021, during the Covid lockdown she started exploring courses and completed the L2 Certificate in Understanding Children & Young People’s Mental Health. She then enrolled on a L3 Youth & Community Work Course and knew that she was in alignment with her values, beliefs and purpose.

Nine months later, Temple Well-Being C.I.C was born.

Why Temple?

Because our mind, body and soul is a Temple.

“I am a spirit, I live in a body which is my vehicle, and I have a soul, which is my mind, will and emotions.”

All that we think, say and do starts from our heart and flows to our spirit.

The heart is the entrance and exit of our whole being; therefore:

We must first deal with our heart (soul)
Which will feed into our conscience (what we think/mind, how we feel/emotions & what we do/will)
And determine who we choose to fellowship and surround ourselves with (spirit)
Our intuitive abilities (spirit) helps us to sense right from wrong
Eyes are the windows and ears are the gateway to our soul
Your body is a Temple, take care of it!

Temple Well-Being has evolved from:

Lived experiences (from single parenting, living with Sickle Cell Anaemia, and surviving abuse, to overcoming adversities and the mental health issues triggered by these traumatic experiences and healing).
A passion for helping others overcome adversity, heal, build confidence, develop resilience and achieve a healthy mindset and lifestyle.
Care and concern about the decline in young people’s physical and mental health & emotional well-being.
Recognising the crucial need for more support, culturally appropriate care and effective early intervention and prevention.
The desire to create a solution to the problems and pressure that existing services are facing with the continued increase in demand for mental health services and support which was exacerbated during and after Covid.
Eleven years professional experience supporting young people’s mental health and well-being as an IPHM (International Practitioner of Holistic Medicine) accredited Relaxation Coach
Twelve years experience working with children & young people and promoting their personal, physical, spiritual, social & emotional development.

This is why Temple Well-Being is passionate about:

Developing services to support the physical and mental health & emotional well-being of young people & their families.
Helping people regain control of their minds & lives by being deeply rooted and grounded in love from root to crown.
Informally educating and empowering young people
Teaching about life through the power of the word
Guiding people to transform pain into power

Our Mission

Our mission is to help children, young people and families access a service and culturally appropriate care when they need it, where they can be supported in acquiring a strong mindset, maintaining good mental health and developing a healthy lifestyle. By providing an early intervention service in the community, schools, colleges, and organisations that support young people and families, through classes, workshops, peer support groups and events. Utilising strategies and techniques that can help them, reconnect and renew their minds and lives before any mental health crisis develops.

Our Vision

Our vision is that every child, young person and adult, regardless of background, has access to the support they want and need.

That support needs to be timely, accessible to all and effective. By acting early, we can reduce the likelihood of more severe issues developing through building resilience and strong, positive mental health.

We aim to help young people and their families reconnect through a journey of relaxation, renewal, revival, restoration, and recovery of their mind, body and soul. We envision a community support hub where young people and their families can be informally educated, feel encouraged and empowered to develop healthy minds and bodies, reconnect and restore relationships with those around them so they feel happy, healthy, calm and connected.

Our Approaches

Village approach:

“It takes a village to raise a child” – African Proverb

So we want to see a community connecting and working collectively for the greater good of our children, young people and families to provide a safe, healthy environment, where children are given the security they need to develop and flourish from their roots to their crown.

To achieve this we require a safe space where voices are taken seriously and multiple people (the “villagers”) including parents, siblings, extended family members, neighbours, teachers, professionals, community members and policy makers, play a part in caring for and/or supporting the young person and the parent/carer too.

Strengths & Assets-Based Approach

Personal strengths and assets:

Relationships
Experience
Skills
Aspirations.

These evidence-based recommendations focus on identifying and supporting the individual’s strengths and assets:

Through person-centred conversations, we will build a picture of each person’s individual strengths, preferences, aspirations and needs.
We will provide any support needed to enable our members to express their views and participate in the conversations, including independent advocacy if required.
We will involve our members wider social network (carers, family, friends, advocates) if that is their wish, and explore the support it may offer.

We will share information with the person in an accessible way so that they feel informed about care and support services, financial advice, safeguarding procedures, rights and entitlements and personal budgets.
We will consider how to support and promote positive risk-taking.
We will promote our members interests and independence, and their preferences for future support.

Community strengths and assets:

knowledge
people
spaces
networks
Services

We believe that building a stronger connection between our members and their community is mutually beneficial. The following evidence-based recommendations show ways in which the connection between a person and their community can be developed:

We will use our own knowledge, networks and relationships to help identify assets and facilities within the local community.
If a member’s mental health is more serious, we will endeavour to signpost to practitioners or professionals who have the knowledge and competence to work with a range of social care and health services, including those provided by the voluntary and community sector.
We will support our members to identify the strengths and assets available in their community.
We will share information with our members about resources and support available in the local community, including voluntary organisations, user-led organisations and disabled people’s organisations (and promote more widely, for example in community spaces and services).
We will provide information about access to other relevant peer support services and opportunities (using their skills, life experience and cultural awareness).
We will empower people using our support services to build social connections and a sense of mutual support.
We will support people with mental health issues to maintain links with their home community (including education, employment and social contacts
We will make it as easy as possible for people to use and contribute to the support available in the community:

Identify any barriers that people might face. These could include being without access to IT for a range of reasons, childcare, access to transport, language, literacy, numeracy, low income or disability.

Establish support that might help them overcome these barriers. For example, access to IT and digital training, using familiar and accessible places, providing childcare support and offering information in plain English, an accessible format or a different language.

Our Values

INTEGRITY

We are financially responsible, committed to our mission, show honesty and transparency and always work to the benefit of young people and their families.

INNOVATION

We respect the four pillars of innovation (Context, Culture, Capability and Collaboration) as they are the collective wisdom of the “villagers” (family, educators, professionals etc.) and will adapt to empower young people and their families to lead the way in creating positive changes.

COLLABORATION

We work alongside other professionals and community organisations with aligned interests who work with young people and families for the best outcomes.

COMPASSION

We listen without judgement to understand problems, concerns and issues when confronted with another’s suffering, and utilise that feeling as the driving force and motivation to find solutions collectively to relieve their physical, mental or emotional pain and suffering.

There are so many benefits to living a healthy, holistic life!

How do you achieve it?

Emotional Well-Being Toolkit

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