Johnny’s Happy Place (JHP) is a weekend community hub/café within Keystone’s building in Kettering.
The team behind JHP want to reduce the stigma and also help in their own small way. There are many people out there who, for one reason or another, through circumstance, are having a tough time. They might have anxiety issues, depression or just feel isolated. JHP is a sanctuary for such people but it is open to everyone: old, young, rich, poor, good mental health, poor mental health.
JHP is named after Johnny Mackay, a funny, talented, kind, compassionate and a wonderful human being. He was a very interesting and interested person but 2014 saw Johnny become more and more troubled. He would often run away from home and had many addictions and undiagnosed mental health problems. Tragically he took his life on October 23rd 2014.
The family feels it is important to acknowledge the dark place he and they went to in 2014 but equally want to remember Johnny as he was for most of his life.
Johnny often talked about setting up his own “Happy News” TV channel. He hated seeing all of the awful things going on in the world and believed it would benefit people to perhaps have a channel dedicated to only happiness.
This became their inspiration.
The main café space has brightly coloured chairs and tables decorated in the style of one of Johnny’s favourite artists, Jackson Pollock, and there are always lots of homemade cakes on offer as well as some home made dishes of the day. The café is run entirely by volunteers and is on a suggested donation basis but if you have no money they will still feed you.
Every Saturday between 1pm and 3pm they have free art workshops where people can create something arty in the back room.
Being creative with your hands is well known to help mental health so they believe this is an important service to offer.
There is a hair salon on site and a volunteer called Klair comes in most Saturdays to cut and colour people’s hair simply asking for a donation in return. This can be pre-booked or as a drop-in.
They believe that if you look and feel good it can help with your mental health and confidence.
JHP is simply a welcoming space, where people can come and sit for a few hours and read a book, make something arty, have some food and a cup of tea, for free if they can’t afford it, meet new people and hopefully smile and maybe have a laugh.
There will always be people to talk to. Many of the people who volunteer have or have had mental health problems.
They are all caring and considerate people and although none of them are healthcare professionals they are humans with hearts and sometimes that is all someone needs. Someone to talk to who can listen and who can empathise.
Johnny’s Happy Place is open Saturdays 10am-4pm and Sundays 11am-2pm
JHP, Keystone, 97 Rockingham Rd, Kettering, Northants, NN16 9HX