Common Wheel is an established award winning mental health charity, supporting over 600 people a year in Glasgow. We use bikes, music and art to engage people in meaningful activity that helps them live the best possible life despite their mental health challenges. We aim to reduce isolation, develop new skills and improve mental wellbeing. There are three major strands to our work: Bikes, music and art.
Build your own Bike (BYOB) supports people to build their own bike from an old frame and recycled parts. Over 10 weeks, participants attend a weekly workshop where they are guided by our skilled and experienced bike engineers to build their own customised bike and at the end of the course, ride it away.
We deliver participatory music workshops for adults with mental illness and older people with dementia in psychiatric wards and care homes as well as in our arts and music studio in the grounds of Gartnavel Royal Hospital Glasgow.
Carnival Club is an arts focused weekly workshop for people referred by mental health professionals. Over 12 weeks a small group work together to create structures that contribute to the city’s major festivals and parades.
Poverty, enduring mental illness and associated stigma can result in loss of employment, withdrawal from the local community and deteriorating mental health. Common Wheel exists to break this cycle.