Good Practice Mentors are really pleased to be able to be part of Warm Welcome Week in 2026, our special session – A Cup of Warm Welcome – conversations that connect on “Blue Monday” – will offer a virtual cuppa and chat to event organisers who’d like a break in their no doubt hectic planning for events during the week.
Warm Welcome Week is Warm Welcome Spaces’ inspired response to the ‘Blue Monday’ phenomenon and uses the idea of bright colours to counter the gloom of winter and encourage people to come together socially. The work of their community partners shows how people value access to free community spaces and the social connections that this fosters.
I don’t think this comes as a surprise to any of us here in the Good Practice Mentor team or would be a surprise to any of the colleagues we worked with on the Ageing Better programme, where we identified similar needs. People both wanted and feared making social connections, but with the right help and support were able to do so.
It was all about discovering what mattered to those people – often learning to read between the lines as stigma around poverty, loneliness and being seen as ‘vulnerable’ made it hard for people to engage.
What was important included:
- Understanding that for some people it is harder for them to reach out for help than it is for others – and you need to reach out to them, maybe more than once.
- Recognising that for many of us it is as much about us helping others as being helped ourselves – giving or doing what we each can to provide mutual aid. You can ask everyone to help you.
- Appreciating you can learn to provide the best sort of Warm Welcome – it’s not just a matter of instinct or casual friendliness – as some of the signals we give and receive can be misconstrued.
Good Practice Mentors can offer any organisation support in these areas. We have practical knowledge gathered from the organisations we worked with across England and can offer bespoke support to organisations beyond Blue Monday and Warm Welcome Week.
If you are trying to find the people who live in your area who might not be engaging with the activities you offer, we can provide support with your comms, and training to give you the skills you need to do street outreach or door knocking.
If you want to make sure you are working with local people – not patronising them, not fixing them – we have all the skills you need in delivering projects using co-production without the jargon.
If you need to know how to deliver a truly ‘Warm Welcome’ to those who have plucked up the courage to visit your group – without letting that welcome be overwhelmed by the practicalities of the day – we can do that too.
The pseudo-scientific structure around Blue Monday may be nonsense – but it catches our imagination because here in the UK at least, it’s cold, miserable, we feel a bit sad Christmas is over and are trying to find things to look forward to. Turning it into an excuse to wear some cheerful clothing, cook and eat together and undertake some acts of kindness seems like a sensible idea, and we want to support those of you who are doing that.
Our online schedule of free, practical and interactive workshops offer a great opportunity to build your knowledge and understanding of Warm Welcome techniques, as well as a range of topics to help you better reach, engage and connect with your community – GPM online schedule.
By Jessica, Leeds Older People’s Forum
