In July of 2025, during a particularly hot summer, Jess had an idea. She’d had this idea for a while (and as is quite normal for ideas) it flew around her head for weeks and weeks, it popped up as she made a brew, it circled round her thoughts as she took her dog Bonnie for a walk… until she finally decided to just act on it. When you look at The Girls Club, you might think it took months or even years to come up with what we wanted; a place where mental health support, finding connections and friends, building community… that all that had to be carefully planned and organised.
It turns out, it just needed to come from the mind of our brilliant Jess, who decided to set it up with one goal: to help other women. I don’t know what you believe, whether you believe in coincidence, or divine intervention, but Jess having that idea was the closest thing I’ve seen to magic in a long time.
Jess saw the gap in mental health support for women in Wigan, for women everywhere. How hard that was for women. Women needed somewhere to go regularly to talk, to find support, to find each other. It all started with one support group in Ashton at The Cupcakery and the shop was so full of women that half of them had to stand. The response to the club was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. Women not just from here in Wigan, but all over saw what we planned to do and dived in with us.
Jess has had her own difficulties with mental health, including dealing with trauma, depression, PTSD, and anxiety. She, like many of us, know how it feels to struggle through bad mental health… but she also knows what it’s like to come out the other side.
Personally, I have struggled with depression for most of my life. My mental health is now the best it’s ever been – but I know the helplessness and desperation of feeling so low. One of the reasons I wanted to be involved with the club was because of this, because I wanted to give a helping hand to women in the same boat that I was in. Melissa, too, understands how difficult it can be to navigate bad mental health. I suppose all three of us are well versed in how hard it can be – but I think that’s what drives us to help as many women as we can.
Jess, myself and Melissa really needed something like The Girls Club when we struggled with our mental health, but it just didn’t exist.
So now, we’re giving it to you.
Allie x