HARP Café: A Recipe for Success Booklet

The HARP Community Café first opened in 1994 providing inexpensive, healthy and nutritious meals to local people. It provided a safe space for people to develop basic food preparation skills and to broaden social networks. It also was a place that actively promoted a positive image of what people with mental health needs can achieve. It is striking, when reading this brochure, how much of what was started in 1994 remains the same within our current Food For All service. Our Community Café still feeds local people using our allotment produce and offers volunteering and kitchen training opportunities. Buffets are still delivered across the City through our catering company, Good Mood Food and, our Pay What You Can sessions remove the financial barrier that prevents so many from eating healthily. We continue to value the importance of providing a space where people can come together, to eat and to talk. Over the years, our knowledge and understanding of the links between nutrition and mental health have increased. Some things have not changed over the past 30 years and Manchester Mind’s current beliefs and values echo those of HARP that are listed at the back of this booklet. A belief that achieving and maintaining good mental health is dependent on many factors such as suitable housing, healthy affordable food, freedom from excessive financial stress, purposeful activity and social contact.