A therapist is offering Union St members and followers a free trial session. Here’s what you need to know.

Union St now has a resident therapist. That’s not, may we point out, a reflection on working

conditions. Ciaran – an experienced psychotherapist – sees a private client downstairs once a week (in the ground floor meeting room) and is offering his service to Union St members and followers.

What’s the offer?

You can try a free 30-minute taster therapy session with no onward commitment. But don’t expect immediate questions about your childhood. Your relationship with your therapist is key, so the taster is just a chance to meet, chat about what you’re looking for, and see if Ciaran is the right fit.

Do I really need therapy?

“If you think you might, you probably do”, says Ciaran. “There’s probably a reason that thought is coming to you. And if it is, what’s the worst that can happen if you give it a go? At the very least, you’ll gain some insight into the issue that you’re grappling with”.

“People often come to me for help with one particular thing. It’s usually a hurdle that they need a bit of help with. It’s not always a big, traumatic thing – just something they haven’t found a way to resolve by themselves.”

Ciaran stresses that therapy can help with a whole range of things, including just some self-development. With some clients, he has more of a counselling relationship: meeting on a regular basis monthly, fortnightly or even weekly. He compares this to “mental flossing – a chance to check-in, tidy up, offload some stuff that is difficult to say to somebody else”.

Can you ‘complete’ therapy?

“It’s absolutely not about a cure. As a general rule, the therapeutic relationship is no longer needed when the benefit you were getting from it, you can now get from other things in life.

It’s about building that skill set and resilience.”

“A coaching relationship is often solution focused. There’s a thing – or a process – you needed help with. Once that’s achieved, we can go our separate ways!”.

So how do you get the ball rolling?

If you’re interested in trying therapy with Ciaran, you can book your free taster here. It can take place either at Union St or in his Site Gallery office, just down the road.

After your taster, therapy is £55 per 50-minute session – there’s no commitment, and no need to book more than one session at a time.

‘Getting involved’ at Union St gets you 50% refunded from your monthly coworking fee. A solid offer. But what does it actually involve? And why is it priced like this in the first place?

“We wanted to do things differently” says Matt, Co-founder. “People are looking for more than a desk – they’ve got that at home. So the idea of building a community for the benefit of its members was really important”.

So, by getting involved, people can contribute in ways other than just handing over their money? “Exactly. About a third of people ‘get involved’ which is great. It's designed to be easy, and it's designed to be flexible”.

“But I recognise that others are juggling businesses, kids and so on. There’s absolutely no obligation to do it”.

What kind of things do people do then? Well, there’s loads on. Some people choose to

organise groups; this is just a small selection:

• Hot Yoga

• Gardening club

• Book Club

• Tuesday night running group

• Shared lunch crew

• The ADHD group

• After work drinks

• Live music outings

Then there's the practical things, like turning up at 7.45 in the morning to unlock the building and put the coffee on, or locking up in the evening. You could even write an article for the website, I suppose.

So Union Street benefits. And the individual? “I'd like to think that everybody feels that Union St is something that they are part of, rather than something that they’re a customer of. And I think they do... but you should ask them”.

So I did:

Will

Gets involved by... making smoothies for the 3pm break on Wednesdays, and then washes up afterwards. Time dedicated each week: half-an-hour or so.

Refund: 50%, worth £120 per month.

And did you benefit in other ways? “It forced me to be more social, which is a good thing. I felt more integrated sooner. Also, it’s just nice how grateful people are for it.”

Ella

Gets involved by... baking potatoes for everyone on a Monday lunchtime. Everyone brings a different topping, so there’s a whole spread of options (and a free lunch for everyone).

Time dedicated each week: 45 minutes a week.

Refund: 50%, worth £90 per month.

And did you benefit in other ways? “I came to Sheffield 18 months ago and didn't really know anybody. It’s been a really nice way to quickly get to know lots and lots of people.”

Sam

Gets involved by... running 'Have I Got Views For You': a weekly discussion based on a random topic each week. Could be literally anything (apart from politics).

Time dedicated each week: 45 minutes, an hour maybe.

Refund: 50%, worth £165 per month (Sam is a full time member)

And did you benefit in other ways? “They should call it the fast-track friends scheme.”

Want to get involved, but not sure what you’d do? Don’t worry. There’s always some ideas floating around. Chat to Matt and see if anything takes your fancy.

Still unsure? Really, the best way to suss things out is to book a free trial day.

Written by co-working member Mina Miller

Sheffield's Union St is a thriving city-centre ecosystem of independent professionals, creatives, and social enterprises. An alternative to a traditional office space, it stands apart from other co-working spaces with its DIY ethos, which can be seen and felt throughout the building.

Most Union St members are hot deskers – nabbing table space on a first-come-first-served basis, mainly on the second floor. But the top floor houses long-time members who either rent desks, or whose offices are permanently based here. 

With two desks now vacant, we spoke to top-floor denizens about their work, and what they value most about Union St. Beware: basing yourself here might spark an urge to found a social enterprise. 

A gradual evolution

Originally council offices, Union St came into being slowly and organically, with long-term occupants like Studio Polpo, an architecture firm and social enterprise, playing an integral role in shaping its identity. 

Mark, founder of Polpo and a lecturer at the University of Sheffield's School of Architecture, has been upstairs at Union St for 10 years. Mark used to work from an office in his attic, and moved to Union St in pursuit of a dedicated space for meetings and collaboration. ‘The house was fine’, he said, ‘but not so great for visitors, who’d have to step over the kids’ toys’. 

Mark, who’s one of Union St’s longest-running occupants, was a partner in its transformation. ‘We had a bit of a make and break attitude towards trying new things,’ he says, adding: ‘it was nice to build as we went along’. Mark adds that Union St has gone through several phases of development, with Covid being the latest inflection point, bringing in lots of new people. 

A hub for those in search of work-life balance

Union St, like Sheffield itself, has become a haven for those seeking a better work-life balance. Tom, the founder of animation studio Grizzle, relocated from London to Sheffield in 2018 with his wife, shortly after having a baby. He said he had a moment of realisation whilst in London, when his child was still a newborn. ‘I went for a run’, he said, ‘it was my first outing since the birth, and I found myself by an underpass with loads of traffic. I just wanted something better’. 

Looking around, Tom found Union St to be a refreshing alternative to sterile co-working spaces, appreciating its ‘lived-in’ character. The top floor was ideal for his animation work, eliminating the hassle of transporting equipment, and Union St was a good base to connect with like-minded individuals. ‘It’s a great place for creative refugees from London’, he said. 

Bernie, a consultant and writer who’s the founder of Made to Measure KPIs, also joined Union St in pursuit of a better work-life balance. Bernie, who’s been at Union St for two years, is the author of numerous top-selling books on KPIs. When he’s not training or consulting, he’s working on his own. He joined for social contact, to meet people outside of work, and for interaction that wasn’t purely client-based. 

Bernie says his desk space gives him the best of work life – the social contact of an office – with none of the hassle. Plus, he points out, the company is varied and interesting. Bernie, who found Union St via Google, knew next to nothing about animation before sharing a space with the Grizzle team, but: ‘sitting next to these guys, we’ve learned from one another’. Mark agrees: ‘The space is better with more people. There’s cross pollination, it’s more communal, and it’s nice to hear other people’s conversations’. 

A launchpad for social impact

Union St offers more than just a place to work. Its central location is proximate to council and local authority offices, and its downstairs space provides affordable coffee and lunch options, operating as an informal meeting space for members, volunteers, and guests. The numerous groups and activities organised by members create a strong sense of community and provide opportunities to connect with people beyond work. 

In 2015, Mark and Polpo decided to found the Sheffield Community Land Trust, a community-led organisation established to provide genuinely affordable housing and workspaces. Mark took a year off lecturing to build SCLT and secure a funding bid. Now, the organisation has an annual AGM and regular volunteers who pop into Union St to work and chat.

And Tom realised that, as a father, he could no longer participate directly in XR activism like he had in the past. Union St provided a location for climate-conscious collaboration. So he diverted some of his time away from Grizzle to found Mycelium, an open access, AI-powered tool seeking to consolidate and publish companies’ emissions data for carbon accounting. Tom pointed out that Union St currently hosts a high concentration of AI and climate specialists, fomenting a space for good chats and collaboration – the ‘hive mind effect’.

Join the Union St community

Two desks are available immediately on Union St’s top floor, either together or separately. Memberships are flexible, offer plenty of storage space, and come with a two week free trial. Whether you're a freelancer, director, or social innovator, Union St offers a supportive and social environment to work and experiment. If you’re looking for a space where people are dedicated and passionate about their work – but reject the corporate ‘grind’ mentality, book a tour via this link here today.