The impact of Shared Reading on people’s mental health and wellbeing is backed up by robust evidence. Recent participants told us:
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95%
I’ve got to know people who have different lives and experiences
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93%
Shared Reading lifts my mood
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85%
I feel more like I belong to a community
Who We Are
We are experiencing an epidemic of poor mental health, stress and depression, and despite technological advances, many of us feel disconnected from each other. We believe that the unique power of literature is needed now more than ever to connect individuals, help us feel better and to rebuild lost social bonds.
For over twenty years our Liverpool-based charity The Reader has been building a community of Shared Reading groups across the UK and around the world. Here, thousands of people connect and share experiences using stories and poems at a session led by a highly trained Reader Leader. Shared Reading is free, and for everyone.
These groups are attended by people from all walks of life and happen in places like libraries, care homes, cathedrals, cafes, hospitals, prisons, and at The Reader’s home in Liverpool’s Calderstones Park – the International Centre for Shared Reading.
The Reader is a proudly local concept, built on the region’s values of warmth, welcome and creativity
In Liverpool City Region, we have 118 Shared Reading groups for adults in a range of places including libraries, churches, care homes and hospitals. We deliver Shared Reading in eleven, but soon to be all, of the new thirteen Liverpool Neighbourhoods as well as across the six local authority boroughs. Our aim is to have Shared Reading embedded at every point of local mental health care, from hospitals to community settings.
We work with 27 partners across the city region to embed storytelling sessions in their services, and our Reading Heroes programme has reached 250 care experienced children. Our ambition is for Reading Heroes to be commissioned by all North West Virtual Schools as part of the first phase to becoming a national statutory offer.
The home of Shared Reading
Our headquarters in Liverpool’s Calderstones Park opened in September 2019, and alongside providing opportunities for the community to experience Shared Reading every week, we are also developing a flagship model for creative health and wellbeing which:
- Builds thriving social enterprises, generating income to support the Reader’s charitable work and provide opportunities for meaningful jobs and volunteering.
- Improves mental health and wellbeing through a creative community and the power of Shared Reading.
- Demonstrates how a creative model of health improves social connection and wellbeing.
What we can offer you
A relationship with The Reader offers a unique opportunity to support a local charity which is making a significant positive impact on adults and children throughout the region and beyond. Other offers we can provide are:
Shared Reading in the Workplace
Shared Reading provides the opportunity to bring groups of colleagues together to enhance their personal development, improve wellbeing and build relationships with others. As a tool with a proven methodology developed over the last 20 years, its application in the workplace can have really powerful results.
Find out more here.
Space Hire
Set in the heart of beautiful Calderstones Park in South Liverpool, our Grade II listed Mansion House is full of community, character and charm, plus beautiful parkland views, private garden and a historic 1940s garden theatre. We offer tailored packages, including wellbeing and literary experiences, poetry walks and our unique Shared Reading model.
Find out more about our spaces here.
Volunteering
Calderstones offers many day-long volunteering opportunities, from helping to upkeep our Grade II listed building to working in one of our many gardens. Staff can also undertake training to lead and run a Shared Reading group within one of our community venues or as part of our Reading Heroes project which trains volunteers to read 1:1 with care experienced children for a period of 6-9 months.
Find out more about how your organisation can support us, contact developlment@thereader.org.uk
Reader Stories
Touching and transformational stories from readers, volunteers, and more.
Our Research
Shared Reading changes lives by improving wellbeing, reducing social isolation and building stronger communities.
What is Shared Reading?
We believe that literature’s unique power has the potential to connect individuals, help us feel better and to rebuild lost...
