Recognising Potential, Encouraging Independence, Achieving Self-Worth

Crossways Community is a Christian charity caring for younger adults (18-65 years) with mental health difficulties based in the leafy suburban St John’s area  of Tunbridge Wells. The care and support in each home is tailored to meet specific needs; residents in the care home (Number 8) have more acute mental health difficulties, those in the Culverdale, our supported accommodation, are more independent and in the six self-contained flats, people have occasional support. In addition we are continuing to develop a Mental Health Awareness programme for schools, businesses, churches & community groups and Crossways Enterprises which will look at a variety of activities to combat exclusion for people with mental health problems.

Our Projects

Number 8 is a care home providing residential care & rehabilitation for up to 16 people 

Resident vacancies

Culverdale is supported accommodation for up to 22 people who need limited support.

No Vacancies

Bethel Court provides 6 self-contained flats for people who have moved on are mostly independent.

No Vacancies

Mental Health Awareness is a schools and community training programme to help to de-stigmatise mental ill-health in the community.

Crossways Enterprises works to practically empower residents and local communities to combat exclusion and stigma regarding mental health.

News

Supporting Local Businesses

in these tough economic times, we’d like to point out those tradespeople and service providers who we feel deserve being wider known. For more details click here

If you’d like to be added, please contact the Admin department on the contacts page

Katherine Welby (daughter of the Archbishop of Canterbury) gives a brave and candid account of her own long-term depression.

Watch the report on the BBC news website.

She is quoted as saying that, “I have depression. I get it quite badly on a regular basis and  kind of cry and get tired and just generally see no hope in the world. The chemicals in my brain seemed to be at war with my circumstances.  I have friends, a nice home, a very supportive family nearby, a good  church, a good job, a brilliant doctor and an incredibly wonderful  boyfriend. However, previously I have had many of these things and still  found myself unable to find a way out of the despair.” Extract taken from the Daily Telegraph. Read the full article here.

Spring Fayre

A big thank you for all our staff, residents and supporters who braved the intermittent showers to come to our annual Spring Fayre/Coffee Morning. It’s always a great chance to meet up with people who have a connection with Crossways over the years. We raised £750 plus an additional £105 for Crossways Enterprises. Find out more about what Crossways Enterprises is currently doing at the Facebook page.

Residents’ Trip to Teapot Island The residents took a trip to Teapot Island where they enjoyed an afternoon out and handed over a handmade African teapot.  With two Guinness World Record certificates for having the most teapots, they now have around 7,000. 

Annual Service of Thanksgiving

Come join us for our Annual Service of Thanksgiving to be held at 2.30pm on 5th October 2013 at St John’s Church, Tunbridge Wells.

Time to Focus Magazine

April 2013. Our new Time To Focus Spring 2013 is available to download here. There are articles about Crossways Enterprises and helping out Kenward Trust when they requested some books, an article on Schizophrenia and its effect on the person with the illness and their friends and family and details on how we turning our disused pavilion into a residents arts studio.

People on our mailing list can get a paper copy delivered to them. 

Mental Health Awareness Presentation at Local Schools’ Parents Evening

March 2013 Our Mental Health Awareness team (Steve and our new worker Sara) were invited to host a stall at our local secondary schools’ health and well-being parents evening. Although we give lessons at six schools (but not all of the ones covered by the parents evening), it was a chance to talk to parents and teachers about their concerns. Our display board gave a brief overview of what topics we covered and on a table we had to guess which mental health issue the famous person had suffered or still is suffering from.

New Staff for Culverdale & the Care Home

Congratulations to James & Vittoria who will start as our new members of staff at Culverdale and the care home respectively early in the New Year. We were really pleased to get some excellent candidates for both interviews and it was a couple of difficult decisions. We look forward to welcoming them properly in January. 

Schizophrenia Commission Publish Challenging Report

November 2012 The Schizophrenia Commission headed up by Professor Sir Robin Murray has released a report which states: “100 years since Bleuler coined the term, schizophrenia remains a  stigmatised and misunderstood mental illness. In a year-long inquiry,  our expert commission scoped the state of care and outcomes for people  living with the condition in England. We revealed a dysfunctional system that does not deliver the quality of treatment needed for recovery.” Read about their report and recommendations here.

More Schools Request Mental Health Awareness Lessons

We’re grateful to hear that we’ve been offered to take Mental Health Awareness lessons in two new schools, The Skinners’ (boys) School Tunbridge Wells and St Leonard’s Mayfield (girls) School. This is addition to sessions already given to Tonbridge Grammar School, Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar School and Beacon Community College, Crowborough. 

Older news here