'There's support out there' - we visit new wellness café in Gwent town
A brand-new mental health café has opened its doors in Pontypool.
'Grounded Coffee & Wellness' created by mental health charity Tidy Butt is Sebastopol's newest mental health space.
Last Sunday on June 15 the team welcomed the community inside with a wellness themed launch party.
At the party visitors enjoyed locally made coffee, sampled baked goods and enjoyed ice baths and a woodfire sauna experience.
The café's brand-new therapy rooms were also on show.
Matthew Creel of Tidy Butt wellness café (Image: NQ) 42-year-old Matthew Creel is the brain behind Tidy Butt.
Speaking of Sunday's launch he said: 'Seeing people turn up today and the amount of people that have come in support of us is absolutely incredible.
'People of all ages coming in and enjoying the space and that was our decision from the beginning really.
'It's been a labour of love because we've all been working full time, and we've got families but to see the growth of what we've actually achieved with everybody's support within the community has been absolutely incredible It's mind blowing.'
Matthew explained how Tidy Butt was created.
The inside of Tidy Butt wellness café (Image: NQ) 'I kind of lost out on a promising rugby carer to a heart condition. I never really dealt with the loss of kind of losing my career as such.
'As a result of that at pre lock down I was kind of at my lowest point but with my wife's support I plucked up the courage I went to the doctor.
'I started looking in my local area mental health wise to see if there was anything I could get involved with. I didn't feel like anything fitted for me at that time, so I thought you know what I'm going to start my own.'
Matthew had the following advice to anyone struggling: 'If somebody is struggling, they can come in and have a coffee, they can come to have a chat.
'They can access support upstairs via the counselling, and I just think it's another avenue for people to come down.'
Matthew Creel with UFC fighter Mason Jones outside the café (Image: NQ) 30-year-old Mason Jones from Blaenavon is a professional UFC fighter and ambassador for the charity.
Despite a thriving UFC career, he's also struggled with his mental health.
Mason said: 'I went from fighting in front of 18,000 people to having to deal with a lot of problems with my family and injuries it was a lot in one time.
'I've worked with sports therapists before but actually working with someone about my own mental health was massively important.'
He added: 'Reaching out to someone who is actually a professional is a big thing.'
Emma Robinson outside the Little Lee Therapy rooms (Image: NQ)
Also invited to the launch event was 33-year-old Emma Robinson.
Back in 2023, Emma's brother Lee Robinson took his own life just aged 42.
The family, alongside Pontypool United, held 'Little Lee Fest', a festival in Lee's memory, with all proceeds going to Tidy Butt and managed to raise over £7000.
Lee's memory was honoured at the event with the naming of the 'Little Lee' therapy rooms.
Speaking of this Emma said: 'We are thankful that they've still got Lee in mind.
'It's a bad day not a bad life help is out there even though you're struggling and when you're in that dark place there is support out there and you can get out of it.'
Community reaction to the event was also positive.
Helen King and Reg King in the ice baths (Image: NQ) 52-year-old Helen King and 53-year-old Reg King enjoyed the ice bath and sauna sessions.
Helen said: 'It is amazing, I think for women of a certain age going through things like menopause, suffer quite a lot with anxiety so it's really helped and having this resource locally is brilliant.'
Reg added: 'It looks good I'm glad there's something here for peoples mental support.'
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