Vote now: Hestia's Recovery Café Nominated for National Charity Today Award Hestia's Mental Health Recovery Café Nominated for National Charity Award Vote now! Hestia has been nominated as a finalist in the national Charity Today Awards for their south west London Recovery Café service, with the winner to be decided by public vote. The Recovery Café, based in Tooting, provides support to adults in south west London who are experiencing a mental health crisis. Hestia is nominated in the ‘Health and Social Care’ category for the support offered through the Recovery Café. We are calling on Londoners to vote for them via the poll on the Charity Today Awards’ official Twitter account, @CharityAwards. Voting is open from today, Monday 22nd June, for one week. Vote now! Commissioned and funded by the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust, the Recovery Café acts as a community-based alternative to A&E by assisting attendees in reducing their immediate anxiety and crisis and developing coping mechanisms. The café is accessible for residents in the Wandsworth, Merton, Sutton, Kingston and Richmond boroughs. The service has continued providing face-to-face support, as well as telephone support, throughout the coronavirus pandemic in response to rising concerns around an increase in people experiencing challenges with their mental health. Elvio Correia, Area Manager for Hestia’s Mental Health Crisis services, said: “We’re thrilled to be a finalist in the Charity Today Awards for our work at our Recovery Café. The coronavirus pandemic is having a great impact on the nation’s mental health, and services like this are becoming ever more crucial, with many people finding they are reaching the point of crisis far quicker than usual. In 2019/20, we had more than 6,500 attendances at the service, indicating that it has become a real lifeline for members of the local community, especially under the current circumstances. This award would be a testament to that.” Terry*, a service user at the Recovery Café, said: “The café is my safe place. When I am lost, I come here. I am much less stressed than when I first started coming here.” Manage Cookie Preferences