Kintsugi Hope

Kintsugi Hope is a charity based in the UK striving to make a difference to peoples mental wellbeing. ‘Kintsugi’ (金継ぎ) is a Japanese technique for repairing pottery with seams of gold. The word means ‘golden joinery’ in Japanese. This repairs the brokenness in a way that makes the object more beautiful, and even more unique than it was prior to being broken. Instead of hiding the scars it makes a feature of them.

Why ‘Kintsugi Hope’

Diane and Patrick Regan OBE founded Kintsugi Hope after a series of operations and events that took them to the brink; physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. They faced illness and loss in their family and community.

The stress and demands of modern living are taking their toll on our mental health and well-being. Author Brené Brown believes that we live in “the most medicated, addicted, overweight cohort of history”. Most of us may feel the effect, but don’t fully understand the cause. Many of us don’t even feel comfortable talking about our mental well-being.

Kintsugi Hope is not just a charity. We have a vision of starting a movement of Kintsugi Hope Wellbeing Groups in churches, where people can experience:

• Safety and support where there is no shame and embarrassment in struggling
• An increase in self-worth, confidence and wellbeing
• A deeper understanding of the reality of God’s love for them
• Clear pathways to receive additional support if needed.

How does your organisation contribute to preventing suicide and supporting those affected by it?

Educating and training people around the UK on mental health and how to create safe spaces, so people can be honest and grow and flourish. If people can learn self-management tools and how to be more open about their mental health and situations with someone they trust, then hopefully we can reduce the number of people that get to crisis point.

What are your current priorities?

We are currently focused on training and equipping more group leaders across the country to run wellbeing groups in their churches.

What challenges are you currently facing?

We would love to advertise our wellbeing groups more widely to the general public so they can find a group to join near them. In order to achieve our goal, we need wellbeing groups running in as many communities as possible across the UK.