Paul McColgan

Working alongside social entrepreneurs, charity leaders and business owners to achieve balance, wellbeing, and sustainable success.

TheWEL(Wellness Enhancement Learning) is an award-winning course that restores and creates health using an innovative approach built on 40 years of clinical practice, development, teaching and research. TheWEL course has been proven to produce remarkable lasting results for most of its participants. The evidence has been built on 3 layers: * over 20 years of rigorous medical practice-based evidence to establish the core WEL approach and results * 12 years of ratings in over 3000 course participants, guiding cycles of improvement * confirmation of the results in in-depth scientific studies of over 300 people with person-centred measures, depth case studies and blood results.

Paul led the development of the CentreStage five year strategy 2023-28. Paul was instrumental in successfully shifting the CentreStage financial model towards a greater emphasis on self-generated income through its four businesses - Commercial Property, Performing Arts Academy, Cafe-Restaurant, and Conferencing and Events.

Paul conceived the idea for Lifting Neighbourhoods Together. A whole system test of change to tackling poverty in economically marginalised neighbourhoods.

Following a family tragedy when his sister became a widow at 28 years old, Paul began to research the scale and impact of funeral poverty in the UK. He uncovered a chilling reality for people who could not afford to pay for a funeral and was determined to create a solution. He co-founded Caledonia Cremation in 2018 to provide a simple dignified funeral for around £1000. Caledonia Cremation and Funeral Aid disrupted the funeral market in Scotland and many funeral providers now offer an affordable option to low income families.

In 2000, Paul McColgan and Bob Marshall began developing Community Renewal with a burning question: “What would it take to lift a neighbourhood out of poverty?” We set up 3 prototype projects in Glasgow to develop our approach. In 2003 we established Community Renewal with just 4 staff in Foxbar, a housing estate near Paisley. We wanted to test our new, more holistic way of transforming neighbourhoods by empowering people to get involved in community activity, improve wellbeing and get them into fair work. We had developed a methodology for engaging with every household in a neighbourhood. In just over 3 years we increased the employment rate in Foxbar by 6%. By 2006 we had grown to 75 staff and were working in 17 neighbourhoods across five local authorities. We realised we were pushing boundaries, testing new ways of thinking and supporting statutory agencies to integrate better. From humble beginnings we conducted over 40,000 listening conversations. These conversations have resulted in over 5500 people going into sustained work and over 4200 to improve their health and wellbeing . Sixty new groups and community organisations have been established.