It is often easy to forget the importance of socialising with other people. Social interaction is crucial to both mental and physical health, especially face-to-face communication in the days of social media. Community centres can play a fundamental role in increasing engagement and involvement within the community and its people, allowing the public to support and learn from one another.
At Kensington Community Learning Centre, we embark on the mission to ‘provide quality training, support and volunteering opportunities to members of the local community in a safe and non-threatening environment that is conductive to learning’. We focus primarily on learning and training whilst bringing people together from a vast range of different places, backgrounds and circumstances and ensuring that they feel welcome and supported within our centre.
Isolation and loneliness are feelings that many people experience in some form. These feelings could originate from factors such as people not having the capability to speak English, and therefore may struggle to communicate with those around them. Similarly, many people struggle with their digital/computer skills, which may hinder them from keeping in contact with friends and family. Due to the countless workshops we host here at KCLC, such as the arts and crafts workshops, board games evenings, ESOL and computer courses, we aim to eradicate social isolation and bring people together to form a community. Our ESOL course and computer courses are there to help people learn the skills they need to communicate, but they also offer the opportunity to learn these skills as a group. Learning together can be much more helpful, insightful and fun. In a team you can see the benefits of cooperation, unity and community involvement. By sharing lessons and experiences you can learn from other people’s successes and mistakes, alongside meeting people you may not have met outside of KCLC.
Aside from just partaking in the vast selection of events and activities we host; we offer many opportunities to volunteer at KCLC. Volunteering is an incredible way to have a positive impact on society, allowing you to utilise your useful skills, but also equip you with plenty of new abilities that can help you in many aspects of life. Alongside gaining experience for future job opportunities and prospects, volunteering also provides you with the chance to make a positive impact, meet new people and offer a helping hand.
Community centres are fundamental to the local society, allowing people to support, interact and understand people from different backgrounds and circumstances. Come down to Kensington Community Centre, whether it be to join one of our workshops or to help us out in a volunteering role! We would be happy to see you.
