Lancashire Women’s Centres (LWC) believe that Every Woman Counts. Their vision is that women, and their families, in the communities LWC serve are able to achieve their potential, develop their assets and skills and live safe, healthy and prosperous lives.

They meet Women’s needs:

1. By championing the value of a gender specific approach in our delivery and as a primary route to achieving better outcomes for those we work with.
2. By adopting an asset based approach- building aspirations and removing barriers.
3. By identifying the needs of different communities and adapting services locally to meet these needs.

We are accessible to all Women:

1. By bringing a range of services together under one roof - a “One Stop Shop”.
2. By locating our centres in communities where needs is greatest.

The centres provide a safe, non-judgemental and professional environment that is female only between the hours of 10am – 3pm. Whatever their needs, women can drop-in or telephone during the opening times to speak to a member of their team.

The range of services on offer include:

• IAPT Provision - Therapeutic services, including counselling and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, commissioned under the national Improving Access to Psychological Therapies umbrella.
• They support a growing network of Peer Facilitated group activities which provides opportunities for peer support to improve emotional wellbeing and to foster social inclusion. These include therapeutic art groups and a transgender support group.
• Their training provision continues to provide both a starting point and progression route between inactivity and more formal learning and qualifications for women who are less likely to access mainstream adult learning activity. Their programmes such as our MindFit courses and BodyFit programme are designed to deliver a responsive educational programme of wellbeing through mental & physical health recovery focussed workshops and courses.
• The LWC employment support service remains focussed upon supporting those furthest from work. Their Work Club group activity is led by trained volunteers and their Achieve programme provides intensive one to one employability support for women who have had contact with the criminal justice service.
• Volunteers are at the heart of their centres. If you want to get involved, meet new people, learn new skills or rediscover old ones then please get in touch with your local centre. They have opportunities for ladies who are interested in developing a career in Health and Social Care or Support work, general admin volunteers and Women At Risk mentors across all our centres.
• Housing and Money advice including problems with homelessness, rent arrears, landlord issues, housing benefit forms, repair and entitlements. Ring your nearest centre and book an appointment with them.
• The Vision Project works with women ex-offenders or women who are at risk of offending and is offered from all centres. LWC continue to enact the principles of the Corston Report within their service, providing a gendered response to the issues of female offending behaviour. They view this as a key route to reducing instances of reoffending or to prevent the criminalisation of women with multiple and complex needs. Their programmes are receiving increasing regional and national recognition for their impact, with their work including pilot and innovative approaches which seek to increase the use of community sentencing options for women. We now offer a package of services which work with women at all points in the criminal justice system, placing staff within police custody and prison settings to support engagement as well as further extending our community provision.

Lancashire Women’s Centres has centres in Blackburn, Accrington, Burnley and Blackpool, Preston and a Community Wellbeing in Nelson.