WELLBEING + SUSTAINABILITY
Healing and Empowerment Off the Pitch.
Community at our heart
Leicester Nirvana FC and Womentum CIC Join Forces to Create Wellbeing and True Inclusivity for Women.
As a football club that prides itself on driving social cohesion, equality, and community action, Leicester Nirvana FC has long understood that our impact must extend far beyond the white lines of the football pitch. To truly champion inclusion, our club must look at the hidden barriers preventing people from stepping through our doors. With this mission in mind, Leicester Nirvana partnered with Womentum CIC, a Leicester-based community interest company (CIC), to deliver a transformative, trauma-informed wellness and wellbeing initiative that provides vulnerable women with a safe sanctuary to heal, connect, and thrive.
Womentum CIC, founded and led by Mumtaz Patel, is built upon lived experience and a deep cultural understanding of the complex challenges women face. Moving far past generic support, Womentum CIC specialises in delivering culturally responsive prevention, healing, and empowerment programmes. The organisation's primary goal is to help women break free from unspoken barriers, reclaim their unique voices, and confidently build safer community environments, particularly for those who have been affected by isolation or domestic abuse.
“Leicester Nirvana gave us a platform and we built a community. Week by week, that platform became a trusted space where women found connection, confidence, and the courage to grow. As the programme evolved, so did the women within it, many discovering strengths they never knew they had and encouraging others to do the same.” Said Mumtaz Patel.
“This is more than a partnership. It's proof that when grassroots organisations open their doors to purpose-driven ideas, communities can become part of the solution to preventing violence against women and girls.”
What the Programme Delivers: Small Changes, Lasting Impact
The sessions were intentionally structured through a trauma-informed lens. Because participants joined at various stages of their personal journeys, the delivery focused on small, realistic lifestyle changes rather than overwhelming demands. This allowed both new and existing attendees to build confidence and adopt sustainable habits at their own individual pace.
The weekly sessions seamlessly integrated six core elements:
Self-Discovery & Confidence Building: Facilitated discussions exploring identity, self-awareness, and overcoming deep-seated societal barriers.
Goal Setting & Personal Development: Pathways to help women recognise their transferable skills, establish person-centred goals, and map out routes toward training, employment, or entrepreneurship.
Digital Literacy Training: Practical toolkits to help women streamline daily tasks, work efficiently, and learn that being genuinely productive is not the same as merely being busy.
Nutrition Awareness & Plant-Based Eating: Showcasing how food and lifestyle choices directly impact overall health, mental balance, and energy.
Everyday Sustainability: Embedding environmental awareness into daily life, such as choosing to walk instead of taking short car journeys, reducing household waste, and practicing mindful consumption.
Gentle Physical Activity: Introducing a sports environment in a gentle, non-threatening format through the collaborative “Walk a Mile” challenge around the club's football pitch.
Measuring the Impact: Growth Quietly, Powerfully Unfolding
The commitment and trust established through the partnership yielded profound hard and soft outcomes during the first year.
The true depth of the programme is highlighted by the visible shifts in the women’s emotional resilience. Attendees demonstrated a significant reduction in feelings of isolation, a greater willingness to receive support, and an increased motivation to take charge of their physical health.
Crucially, confidence developed quietly but powerfully. Women who initially arrived withdrawn and quiet began facilitating group reflections, sharing their own lived experiences, leading peer discussions, and taking the initiative to plan low-cost, plant-based cooking sessions using simple tabletop equipment.
The Ripple Effect: Transforming Homes and Families
The impact of this collaboration has proven to be bigger than individual growth, it is creating a profound ripple effect that directly alters households, relationships, and the wider community.
One particularly moving milestone involved a participant who had long struggled with communication within her household, particularly with her autistic teenage son. Through the reflection and self-awareness cultivated in the Womentum CIC sessions, she consciously chose to break old, unhealthy cycles of behaviour and introduced open, balanced communication at home.
This resulted in a monumental shift in her son, who had rarely expressed emotion verbally, spoke to her openly for the first time, acknowledging her visible efforts and expressing his love and appreciation. In a home environment where affection and connection were previously rare, this breakthrough completely transformed their family dynamic.
If you would like to get involved or discuss a partnership, contact womentumcic@yahoo.com or leicesternirvana@hotmail.com
