The six-month collaboration gave the charity an evidence-based evaluation framework and practical toolkit that it can use to understand experiences, demonstrate impact and support conversations with funders.

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Creating accessible arts and mental health spaces

Since 2003, Mental Fight Club has used the arts to support mental health. Through programmes including Dragon Cafe Mondays and Dragon Cafe in the City Wednesdays, the charity creates free, open and creative spaces where people affected by mental ill-health can connect, take part in activities and build confidence.

The Dragon Cafe is Mental Fight Club’s flagship project, offering creative and social support through a range of arts and wellbeing activities.

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The challenge

To sustain and develop this work, Mental Fight Club needed a reliable way to gather feedback from Dragon Cafe attendees. The approach needed to support the charity’s Theory of Change and provide credible evidence for funders including Southwark Council and NHS Southwark Integrated Care Board.

As a small charity, Mental Fight Club did not have the in-house research capacity to design and deliver this type of evaluation independently. The method also needed to be appropriate for a participant group that could include people experiencing mental ill-health.

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The collaboration

Mental Fight Club was matched with academics from LSBU’s School of Applied Sciences through the UKSPF-funded BIG Growth Programme. The collaboration ran from September 2024 to March 2025 and delivered 90 hours of academic consultancy.

The work was led by Dr Ope Atanda and Dr Georgina Bartlett, with Professor Kerry Wood and Dr Dan Frings. The academic team worked with Mental Fight Club to design and deliver an evidence-based evaluation framework.

The work included:

• A review of relevant literature

• An ethics application to support research involving a potentially vulnerable participant group

• A semi-structured focus group with Dragon Cafe attendees

• Thematic analysis of the feedback

• A full evaluation report and practical feedback toolkit for Mental Fight Club

The focus group took place in a relaxed, informal setting without Mental Fight Club staff present, helping participants speak freely. Before the session, Dr Atanda attended the Dragon Cafe several times, took part in creative activities, and built familiarity with attendees.

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A practical evaluation framework

The collaboration gave Mental Fight Club a structured evaluation process and a new-to-firm feedback capability. The toolkit includes:

• A six-month member-feedback cycle combining focus groups, a feedback box and short community review meetings

• An annual impact-assessment process informed by the feedback cycle

• A ready-to-use bank of questions covering social connection, safety and inclusion, activities and service improvements

• An independently developed evidence base that can support reporting and funding applications

Mental Fight Club has used the evidence directly in reports to Southwark Council and NHS Southwark Integrated Care Board, as well as using participant quotations in new funding applications.

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Supporting funding and safeguarding roles

Mental Fight Club reported that the work strengthened its case for funding and contributed to a further £36,000 secured in 2025/26. This represented around 14% of the organisation’s budget and helped sustain two part-time Dragon Cafe roles with responsibility for safeguarding participants.

“Mental Fight Club felt very supported by the BIG Programme, especially the academic research that was undertaken with the focus group and thematic analysis of the data.”
Grace Smith, Mental Fight Club

“Working with Mental Fight Club was a genuinely rewarding piece of applied research. Spending time at the Dragon Cafe before the focus group meant participants trusted us enough to speak openly, and it was clear how much this work matters to the people who use the service. It is a great example of research having a direct, practical impact on a small charity’s ability to sustain what it does.”
Dr Ope Atanda, on behalf of the academic team

“Mental Fight Club is exactly the kind of organisation the BIG Growth Programme existed to support: a small charity doing vital work in the community, without the resources to commission academic research on its own. It has been great to see LSBU’s expertise translate so directly into something Mental Fight Club can use with funders.”
LSBU BIG Growth Programme team

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Looking ahead

Mental Fight Club is working through the report’s recommendations and exploring how to make its feedback process easier for attendees and staff, including the potential use of QR codes and other digital methods.

The original case study stated that a placement student from Westminster College was revising the feedback questionnaire, with completion expected by the end of July 2026. This point should be updated before publication to confirm whether the questionnaire was completed and how it is now being used.

Although there was no active collaboration with LSBU when the source case study was completed, Mental Fight Club said it would welcome the opportunity to work with the university again.