Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre: People Speak Up in Carmarthen by Peter Wyn Mosey

Posted on Mar 27, 2025
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Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre brings together several partner organisations, including People Speak Up, into one collaborative space at Parc Dewi Sant, the former St David’s Psychiatric Hospital site in Carmarthen.

PLANED coordinates the centre, and the collaboration is already improving access to a broader range of well-being services in Carmarthen and the surrounding area.

People Speak Up currently offers Arty Afternoons and Elevenses sessions at the centre, which means more people can enjoy and benefit from them.

People Speak Up Founder and CEO, Eleanor Shaw said, “I was delighted for PSU to be invited by Lucy Cummings, who was the driving force behind the vision for the centre. To be the only arts and health social enterprise was a testament to the quality of our provision for the community. We hit the ground running, delivery started for us in December, and we have collaborated with The Carers Trust on monthly sessions for both carers and their loved ones.”

“We are referring people weekly to other services like The Cae, Physical Empowerment, Age Cymru Dyfed, Delta, Dyfed Powys Police and The Carers Trust. This Centre shows what can happen when services come together; it’s the way forward for community prevention and wellbeing. A big thank you to Lucy and Iwan at Planed in leading this innovative Centre.”

I spoke to Iwan Thomas and Lucy Cummings from PLANED, as well as the volunteers and participants attending People Speak Up sessions at The Living Well Centre.

Let’s learn more about what we can all expect from the Living Well Centre.

What is PLANED?

PLANED is a community development charity that started in Pembrokeshire over 37 years ago. The charity takes a collaborative, people-led approach to deliver sustainable outcomes for communities.

Iwan Thomas, PLANED’s CEO, said, “In the last five years, it has refocused with a new organisational vision informed by communities. PLANED has now expanded to work on a regional footprint, covering Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion, and Pembrokeshire. PLANED is a forward-looking, experienced community-led charity that is innovative in method, creative in approach, and partnership-focused in delivery.”

What are the aims of Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre?
According to Iwan, Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre’s aim is aligned with PLANED's vision of "Empowering Communities".

“By providing a positive, inclusive, and transparent shared space where co-production is delivered -—and not simply talked about in principle — it is a unique and evolving centre where organisations and projects that focus on supporting people in communities can share space together for the benefit of people and communities.”

“The Living Well Centre is a co-located space that promotes well-being, resilience, and the promotion of accessibility that enables the public and service users to access these in a way that is not currently promoted or enabled elsewhere.”

What can you expect when visiting the Centre?
First-time visitors to Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre will no doubt want to know what to expect and what services are available. Iwan told me that:

“Visitors can expect to find a welcoming and accessible centre open 5 days a week from 9 am to 5 pm. With over 20 organisations basing themselves at the centre on a variety of basis - some full-time and some part-time - all of which are promoted routinely online via Facebook, through partner organisations social media channels, and posters within our reception area promoting future activities & current services.”

“Visitors are able to attend the centre and make initial enquiries or book in advance for advertised support and interactions. Upon attending the centre, the interaction can vary from one-to-one sessions to larger group-inclusive sessions and activities. All are focused on the delivery and promotion of well-being, that enables resilience, clarity, and focus through co-production, sharing of resources, and cross-promotion to make sure that the person is always at the centre of delivery.”

Who is involved with Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre, and are more organisations expected to be joining you?
There are currently over 20 organisations involved within the centre offering daily, weekly, fortnightly, and monthly services and interactions,

Iwan told me, “We have a great suite of partners currently engaged and working together, and this is continually increasing as the positive impact of the Living Well Centre looks to increase further, with PLANED receiving more and more enquiries and requests.

Some of the current organisations engaged and using the Living Well Centre include People Speak Up, Age Cymru Dyfed, ANGOR, Carers Trust, Papyrus, The Cae, LINKS, Dyfed Powys Police, Coleg Sir Gar, Delta Wellbeing, Hywel Dda University Health Board - Primary Care Team, Shadows, Foothold, and Carmarthenshire Working, amongst many more.

How will the Centre continue to develop?
Iwan sees the Centre as “an evolving resource that will be driven by the people from our communities who access the centre and its services, alongside the partner organisations, who look to use the centre and promote it.”

“We want it to be a valuable and worthwhile centre that brings organisations together to identify further opportunities for collaboration in the resilience and support of people within our communities - who can now access multiple services and organisations in one central location, rather than having to navigate different locations at varying times. The challenge, however, is always around funding and resourcing such a centre, and PLANED has led this to enable the partners and public to have this space for free. We hope that this will continue and will depend on the support and interaction of other providers, whom we are extremely grateful for with their support and input to date.”

People Speak Up at Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre
I was excited to get the chance to drop in and join an Arty Afternoon session in Carmarthen recently. People Speak Up facilitator Steffan ran the session with support from Katie, a volunteer who assists in both Arty Afternoon and Elevenses sessions at the Centre.

If you’ve never been to an Arty Afternoon session at People Speak Up, it’s always a relaxed opportunity to create, meet, and chat with others. Each week, there’s a chance to develop your arts and crafts skills or just create something purely for your own pleasure. Steffan’s session on the day I visited involved making small, personalised mixed-media “zines”—handmade magazines.

Since starting to offer sessions late last year, the number of participants has risen.

Some of the participants described Arty Afternoon at Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre as “inspiring,” “therapeutic,” and “a great distraction from life.”

Chatting with Katie, she told me she grew up in the area and about the significance of St David’s Hospital as a local landmark throughout her life. She has personal experiences working at, visiting, and living and studying near the former hospital.

We talked about what she remembered of the hospital and how it’s easy to have mixed feelings about this beautiful listed building with such a history.

Katie spoke about how much it meant to have the Living Well Centre and People Speak Up on this site and how excited she was to see the building brought back to life with such a positive purpose.

Join Us at Carmarthenshire Living Well Centre In Carmarthen

Story, Care & Share is on Tuesdays 1pm-2.30pm

Arty Afternoons is held every Wednesday from 1 pm-2:30 pm,

Elevenses is held every Thursday from 1 pm-2:30 pm.

You can learn more about upcoming People Speak Up events at The Living Well Centre here, or by emailing info@peoplespeakup.co.uk. To learn more about The Living Well Centre, visit PLANED’s website.