"The Barnet Wellbeing Service offers a refreshing approach to mental health, combining clinical support with community care. In this personal reflection, I share my experience with the service and how it empowered me to take control of my mental well-being."

How one North London community reflects a country still redefining who belongs.

Libraries have historically been a site of public access to information; the average person, upon hearing the word library, may tend to imagine a big space with rows and rows of shelves, stacked to the top with books, but not much more.

When I first arrived at The Rainbow Centre on Dollis Valley Drive in November, I was struck by its welcoming atmosphere. More than a community building, it is a living, breathing space where citizens from across the borough gather for support, connection, and a sense of belonging.

In the busy market town of Barnet in North London, people live a simple life. Working in a mix of local and emerging industries, they are content. 'The Local Tavern' is the place where friends meet up for a drink and a chat about the week's events. And men enjoy their last moments of freedom before enlisting. Not knowing if they would ever return to the place they call home; to be with their loved ones; and to meet their children for the first time..

Many years ago, when I was just seven years old, I thought Mazar-E-Sharif was the whole world.  I remember even the most ordinary days in Afghanistan—the dust in the morning air, beautiful blue skies filled with kites competing for space, the apricot tree in our courtyard, the bustle of the nearby market, and the smell of freshly cooked naan bread. That was my world—loud, familiar, and warm..

It's a well-known park, a well-travelled park. But just up at the back near the church and graveyard, hidden by a wall of bushes, there’s a small, ill-trodden path at the very top of the hill. Coming back from the leisure centre, still in uniform and walking along the motorway, we found our way up the steep paved walkway to the top of the hill, passing by the Sunny Hill cafe and a few older men flying kites in the autumn afternoon breeze.