WHAC - Women's Health and Advice Centre
Providing support and services for the health and wellbeing of women, girls and families for over 25 years
Looking back at 2011 and to the future
"Despite the increasingly difficult economic climate we continue to find creative and resourceful ways to meet current challenges and to make positive plans for the future.
The past year has seen the progression of new and established partnerships. Collaboration with like-minded organisations, for example the SWAN project and our support services delivered in partnership with DAWN (Advice) Ltd, have allowed us to reach out to more women. We will continue to be open to exploring partnerships where there is clear sharing of principles and values. This will enable us to attract increasingly scarce resources and to develop our services. Our commitment to improving WHAC led to our commissioning an external report of our services this year which contains excellent feedback – great credit to our staff and volunteers!
Online giving made easy with www.LocalGiving.com
Without financial support from a range of funders we simply wouldn't be able to make the range of services and benefits we provide available for free to those who need them most.
In the current economic climate we will need to rely more and more on individual donations to continue to run the centre and provide high quality services, so we've made it easier for you to donate online and to take advantage of Gift Aid on our Local Giving page.
Examples of how your donation can help include:
- £5 for a relaxation session for up to 10 women
- £20 for an emergency pack for a homeless client in need
- £50 for a one to one counselling session
We're very grateful to funding from NHS North of Tyne, Big Lottery Fund, Northumberland County Council, Working Neighbourhoods Fund, the Ministry of Justice, Community Foundation and a Nancy Barbour Award, but donations of all sizes are just as welcome – every penny really does make a difference.
We’ve updated our website!
In response to feedback from clients, staff, volunteers, funders and partners we've redesigned our website to make it more user-friendly, relevant and up to date.
The new site aims to:
- make it easier for you to find what you're looking for
- encourage individuals and organisations to donate online so we can continue to offer high quality support and services
- describe the range of services we offer so people can get the support they need
- provide information and help people understand our role and value
Take a look around and contact us to let us know what you think!
Want to use your experience to help others or learn new skills?
WHAC is a voluntary organisation run by women for women. We need volunteers!
Volunteers have been helping to run the centre for more than 25 years, supported by a small team of core staff. Between 2008-2011 33 volunteers gave 4,422 hours of their time to help us deliver services and support.
WHAC provides opportunities for volunteers to learn new skills or develop existing ones in a friendly, supportive environment through accredited training and access to other programmes.
In the last 10 years more than 100 of our volunteers have gained accredited qualifications, from City and Guilds in IT to MScs in Counselling. Without volunteers we wouldn't be able to offer core services such as counselling, advice and mentoring or manage the day to day running of the centre.
For more information on volunteering with WHAC click here.
