Exclusive: A Wirral community project offered help for people in a crisis. They say it made them worse

The Post has uncovered concerns about Wirral’s wellbeing service the Spider Project

Dear readers — in May this year, the area coroner for Cheshire filed a prevention of future death report for a 25-year-old woman named Evie Davies. Evie died by suicide in December 2021, following the unexpected death of her partner, the loss of her job as a care worker due to a criminal conviction, and a looming court case that meant she could no longer see her children. 

In the last few months of her life, Evie was being supported by a mental health team as well as her GP. Then, one evening in December, she called a crisis phone line service and was referred to the Spider Project, a Wirral-based community interest company that provides services for people struggling with their mental health. Founded in 2007, the Spider Project is currently directed by Sefton Labour councillor Mhairi Doyle MBE, alongside its creative director Melvin Bowen, and has received over half a million pounds from Wirral Council in the past seven years.

Evie, in a state of severe distress, was told that someone from the Spider Project would be in touch. Less than a week later, she was found dead from an overdose in her flat. When the coroner investigated the circumstances around Evie’s death, they contacted the Spider Project about their prior communications with her. The Spider Project had attempted to phone her at the time, but left no voicemail or text she could respond to. 

The coroner’s report, published just weeks ago, mentions serious concerns about the “lack of information sharing between [the Spider Project, mental health teams and GPs]”, and adds that this carries “a risk of future deaths” like Evie’s. 

Over the past fortnight, The Post has been investigating Wirral’s Spider Project. Numerous people who have used their services tell us that volunteers at the project seemed to have “little to no mental health training”, and in fact made them feel more anxious and depressed. We’ve also heard reports of volunteers manhandling and shouting at vulnerable people, with another woman attempting suicide while using Spider Project’s services earlier this year. 

When we approached the Spider Project for a response, they said they “pride [themselves] on offering a welcoming and compassionate alternative to people experiencing mental health crisis. The service is hosted by trained and experienced professionals, alongside volunteers and peers, including people with lived experience of mental health to inspire hope and support recovery in the community.”

But we have concerns about how the Spider Project treats people struggling with mental health issues, as well as its standards of practice. We ask how an organisation directed by a serving Labour councillor can fail vulnerable people in its care, all while receiving large sums of public money?

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By Abi Whistance

The Spider Project came from humble beginnings. It began its life in 2007 as a small organisation based in Wirral, running art therapy and exercise sessions as well as holistic therapies for people struggling with mental health and addiction issues. 

The project is directed by Melvin Bowen, a man who in videos posted by the Spider Project is described as its “creative director”. Alongside him is another director that was appointed in May 2016: Mhairi Doyle. The name may sound familiar — she’s been a serving Labour councillor in Sefton’s Norwood ward since 2018 and is the current cabinet member for public health and wellbeing. She also has an MBE, which she received for her work with disadvantaged people across Liverpool City Region in 2013.

Up until Doyle’s appointment, the Spider Project had received little in the way of funds from Wirral Council, getting just £2,500 in grants in 2016. By 2017, it seems the company’s relationship with the council had shifted dramatically. That year, the Spider Project received nearly £15,000 a month for “contracted services” for wellbeing, strategy and partnerships. In fact, in the following seven years the Spider Project received over £650,000 from the council in total — in grants, contracts and Covid payments. We approached Wirral Council for more information about these “contracted services” for wellbeing, strategy and partnerships. They did not respond by our deadline. 

Following its increase in income, the Spider Project began to expand. Between 2020 and 2022 it opened two crisis cafes, Cafe 71 in Chester and Companeros in Birkenhead respectively. These crisis cafes provided a hub for the project’s activities, such as art and music sessions, as well as an opportunity for people to come in to seek mental health support and advice directly. According to the Spider Project’s website, the cafes are run by professionals and volunteers with mental health training and firsthand experience, and act as a “safe, non clinical space for anyone struggling to cope in a crisis”. 

Companeros in Birkenhead. Photo: Abi Whistance/The Post

Yet those who attend the cafes cast serious doubts over that claim. The problems, they say, go beyond the death of Evie Davies outlined by the coroner. They stretch to volunteers inexperienced with dealing with people struggling with their mental health, leaving those who attend the cafes feeling anxious and unsupported.