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New therapy rooms open in Old Market
New therapy rooms have opened in Old Market.
Tim Gamlin has opened Vessel Therapy Rooms on Gloucester Lane off West Street due to east Bristol “lacking spaces for therapists to work”.
There are three rooms at the space, which is the former premises of Old Market Plants.
is needed now More than ever
As well as being available for private hire, the rooms are part of Gamlin’s practice, East Bristol Psychotherapy, which he set up three years ago.
Vessel Therapy Rooms have opened in Old Market to address east Bristol “lacking spaces for therapists to work” – photo: Charlie Watts
Explaining how Vessel came about, Gamlin said: “I was working in central Bristol, a lot of my clients would come from east Bristol and we were moving across Bristol for no reason and it was born out of that idea combined with the idea that the therapy rooms weren’t offering what we wanted.
“They weren’t offering comfortable spaces. They were all the same – IKEA chairs, pictures of Nordic lakes that have no resemblance to Bristol or our environment…
“I just wanted to bring something closer to home, something closer to BS5, something closer to east Bristol and provide a space.
“People in east Bristol have mental health issues, in the same way that they have them in Clifton and Southville, so why is it that people in east Bristol have to travel to other parts of the city?”
The space on Gloucester Lane off West Street was formerly occupied by Old Market Plants – photo: Charlie Watts
Tim hopes the new space will address the two-year NHS waiting list to see a therapist, by offering low-cost therapy to people that don’t have a lot of money.
The new rooms can accommodate a range of activities including psychotherapy, counselling, psychology, meditation, tarot reading, art therapy and colour therapy.
If Vessel is successful, Gamlin also hopes to replicate the rooms in other parts of the city.
He added: “One of the reasons we started Vessel in a shop and on the high street was because we believe that support for mental health should be as visible as possible.
“We wanted to destigmatise and normalise accessing support for one’s mental health.”
Main photo: Charlie Watts
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