The Community Support Coordinator, Naomi Gass, is employed by Martock Parish Council to offer a local social care service to residents of the parish through one to one work and through the running of services. For more information please contact Naomi Gass on:
07539 754413 or email community.support@martock-pc.gov.uk 
One to One Work
The Support on offer is based on individual need and is delivered in a personal and approachable way.
Some examples include:
- Family support – working through a crisis or encouraging positive parenting. Signposting for advice and information. Referring to appropriate agencies. Advocating if there are multiple professionals involved.
- Support with filling in forms for benefits (eg PIP or UC); help to challenge a decision;
- Contacting services to get the right support.
- Support to attend appointments or services such as health, job centre, social care, police, housing, mental health, debt, drug and alcohol services etc
- Encouraging use of local clubs and services to help combat loneliness and build skills.
- Distributing food parcels and other practical help for those most in need. Holistic budgeting support.
- Encourage and train volunteers to help at the Wednesday Club.
- Action Planning – to help gain some control on your life by breaking up a problem into manageable steps and recognising who can help you to action and find solutions.
- Emotional and mental health support. I offer a listening ear and support to strengthen the individual’s resilience and skills to help themselves – offering a Well-being toolkit, support in practicing mindfulness and meditation, and support with referring to mental health services.
The Services are:
The Wednesday Club 
This is our social peer support group. Wednesdays 10am – 11.30am at the Parish Hall, with a 10 min Meditation and Relaxation session offered at 9.45am prior to the start.
A warm welcome is offered to everyone at this social and inclusive group for all working-aged adults in the Parish. There is an opportunity to join in the wellbeing activities, chosen by the group, or simply come along to enjoy a cuppa, a biscuit and a friendly chat. Activities and themed discussions to aid health and well-being, conversation and shared support, are decided by the group on a quarterly basis – new participants and new ideas always welcome! We ask for a 50p donation to 
over costs of refreshments. Come along and make this group your own. Please click the link below to see the Wednesday Club schedule.
Community Allotment,
We are lucky enough to have an allotment at Bower Hinton that is open to all members of the community to help at, once they have registered with the project. The purpose is to have a space where people can garden alongside others, providing a healthy, sociable, fun and productive activity to participate in – and you get to enjoy the fruits of your labour with fresh fruit, veg and flowers!
Wit
h a grant from SSDC we were able to improve the plot with high raised beds to make it easier to organise and allocate jobs, and hopefully a little more accessible as limits quite so much bending!
We want the allotment to feel fully community so encourage people from all walks of life, all ages, and situations to come and be part of the planning, building, digging, organising, harvesting, weeding and watering. Please do get in touch if you feel you would benefit from this wellbeing project and can share your time and skills.
It is an unsupervised activity with a monthly planning meeting on the 1st Wednesday of the month, at 2pm. From October to March these are held at the Old Dairy and in the warmer months these will be held on the Allotment itself. Please click the link below to see the times of our community allotment meeting times,
Well-Being Walks
These are slow paced, gentle and mostly level to make them enjoyable and accessible for those who may have reduced mobility. We’ve called them Well-being walks, as hopefully they are – we stop and engage our senses, enjoy nature, the seasons and each other’s company. They run on the 2nd Tuesday of the month starting at the Big Rec on Stoke Road and the 4th Friday of the month starting at the precinct. Both at 10.30am. They are about a mile long taking approximately 45mins, but we take our time and can stop at benches. They are accessible for wheelchairs and mobility scooters as the company and sensory wellbeing aspect are just as important as the exercise!
Food Parcels and practical help
In Martock we are very lucky to have a local Food Bank. With the generous donations of food and toiletries by the public and the support of the Martock Christian Fellowship offering a place to store and make up these food parcels, we are able to be quick and responsive to need.
If you would like to donate food or toiletries, these can be dropped off at the Co-op and the churches. Money can be donated to the MCF Transforming Lives fund, which allows us to keep the stores topped up on all the essential dry goods and also have options to buy specific food to meet needs of people with food allergies and also specific things such as nappies, formula, fresh food and top up of utilities where this is essential.
If you are in need of a food parcel, or are able to donate, please call the food parcel line: 01935 310040
Most of us will need some extra support at some stage in our lives and in Martock we are striving to strengthen individuals and the community as a whole, by building skills and resilience.
With the right support we can deal with whatever life throws at us. A little bit of help at the right time can make a big difference. Please do get in touch.