The Village Well: a new and exciting social enterprise for London

We are very pleased to include on this website some information about The Village Well, an exciting and innovative social enterprise project for London.

Planned as a social enterprise, with profits going back into the charity and self-funding after start-up, The Village Well is designed to bring together an integrated range of services for the community under one roof. It will be a first port-of-call for advice, products, and a whole range of services which today are mainly segregated across various and diverse providers.
	Why do we need The Village Well? In the UK today, people's health is suffering. Nowhere is this more so than in London where even the healthiest of London boroughs can be significantly worse than the country as a whole. There are also considerable health gaps between people living in poverty and the wealthier population.
People turn to complementary medicine for a number of reasons, including having a choice of health options, hoping to be cured without negative side effects, previous positive experiences of complementary health care and dissatisfaction with the traditional orthodox consultation. Many users of complementary health also appreciate the active and collaborative role in treatment decision making that many conventional treatment users do not experience.
	However, complementary health is not easily accessible to all. It can be costly or it can be difficult to find high quality services. The Village Well aims to address these issues.
	What is The Village Well? Designed over approximately 15,000 sq ft and based in central London, The Village Well will include a leisure and retail area with a café, organic food shop, bookshop and information points. There will be a wide range of therapies on offer, including affordable sessions for those with limited financial means. Conference facilities will host an exciting programme of educational events at all levels - for the general public and all the way up to CPD opportunities for practitioners. The Village Well will also support and make accessible research, including a public-access library.
The Village Well is intended as a centre for life, education and healing for all - the general public, the media, practitioners, students and researchers - offering information and nourishment on all levels, and the widest range of services linked to complementary health in London and beyond, all under one roof to provide a truly holistic service.
	As a resource for the community, The Village Well is specifically designed to provide support and outreach to key local services. This includes schools, hospitals, GPs' surgeries, mental health user groups. It also includes dedicated facilities for the support for cancer, depression and life-threatening illness through the provision of integrated services. Twenty years on, we would like to see a Village Well in every city - taken for granted as much as the GP's surgery, Boots, the local osteopath practice, and the organic cafe are today. Beverly Martin, Chair to Trustees, ICM

More details
We are currently in our planning stage. We have a detailed business plan and also our Case for Support brochure. To read more about the centre and see artist's impressions of how The Village Well will look, you can download the Case for Support as a PDF.

Click here to download the brochure >

To read about The Village Well's patrons, supporters and news updates, click here >

If you would like to support the project, be involved, give feedback or make suggestions, do get in touch with Kate Tenbeth about The Village Well. Contact details below.

Email: kate.tenbeth@i-c-m.org.uk
Tel: 0207 231 5855
Address: Unit 25 Tavern Quay Business Centre, Rope Street, London SE16 7TX

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