A-Z of mental health
Information and advice on a huge range of mental health topics
Region - London
Scroll down to read about all the Ecominds projects in the capital or click on the project you are interested in.
| London | Area |
| A Therapeutic Garden Retreat | Ealing |
| Battersea Pathways | Battersea |
| Branching Out | Bromley |
| Budding Together | Camden |
| Changing Minds | Hackney |
| City and Hackney Mind Gardening Club | Hackney |
| Core Landscape Social Enterprise Nursery | Newham |
| Cultivating Minds | Richmond |
| Ecotherapy at Sydenham Garden | Lewisham |
| Fine @ the Vine | Enfield |
| Forest Farm Peace Garden | Hainault |
| Fresh in Mind | Bexleyheath |
| FRP Eco-volunteering Project | Walthamstow |
| Get Fit, Stay Well | Mitcham |
| Green Therapy for Survivors of Torture | Islington |
| Grounded Ecotherapy | East London |
| Growing in Mind | Wembley |
| Growing Skills Training Project | Tower Hamlets |
| HYPOD | Hackney |
| Nature and Nurture | Hackney |
| PLANT! | Peckham |
| PoLLeN | Tower Hamlets |
| Putting Down Roots Therapeutic Gardening | West London |
| Recycling Space | Southwark and Lambeth |
| Roots n Boots | Islington and Hackney |
| Seed to Succeed | Tower Hamlets |
| Urban Growth | Camden |
| Waterloo Wildlife, Bankside Biodiversity | Southwark |
| Waterway Wellbeing | London wide |
A Therapeutic Garden Retreat
Run by: Central & Cecil’s Leamington Park scheme
Area: Ealing
Ecominds award amount: £2,000
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Leamington Park is a supported housing scheme in Ealing for people living with mental health support needs. Our residents receive individual support and participate in artistic and therapeutic activities. Over the last few months, people living and working at Leamington Park have been working with Groundwork to turn an empty space between buildings into a welcoming garden. So far three of the vulnerable people living at Leamington Park have taken part in a variety of tasks including:
- Erecting a bamboo screen around the garden to increase privacy – previously the space was extremely exposed
- Laying a concrete base for the greenhouse
- Planting 450 spring flowering bulbs, naturalised in the grass around the base of the trees
- Planting five fruit trees: cherry, pear, apple, plum and peach
Over the next few months we plan to extend the terrace, build raised beds to grow vegetables and flowers, build bird houses, erect and start using the green house, plant the native hedge, start planting beds and construct three chaise longues made from turf .
As the project continues, and our residents become more comfortable with the project, and with the project manager, we expect that more and more people will participate. The garden will provide an ongoing resource that our residents can engage with as actively or as passively as they choose, with numerous health and therapeutic benefits.
When it [the project] is on it helps me a lot, being out in the open air, and he [Fred Alston, Community Gardener] has a very good plan for the garden, the greenhouse has been resurrected, and Fred is a great supervisor, he makes gardening very enlivening. Peter Donolon, resident at Leamington Park
Interested in joining?
Unfortunately this project is solely for residents at Leamington Park.
Battersea Pathways
Run by: Thrive
Area: Battersea
Ecominds award amount: £19,667
This project offers a supported volunteering programme combining person-centred horticultural therapy and skills training to enable participants to become independent community volunteers.
Interested in joining?
Contact Thrive’s Battersea Gardening Project by calling 020 77202212 or emailing battersea@thrive.org.uk
Branching Out
Run by: Community Options
Area: Bromley BR2 9FL
Ecominds award amount: £149,923
Supporting impact award amount: £75,000
Branching out is a two-year horticultural project to improve the prospects of people with mental health needs and make sustainable improvements in 40 green spaces across the London Borough of Bromley. We aim to enable people with mental health needs in the borough of Bromley to engage in self-help activities that are designed to make positive contributions to their physical and mental wellbeing.
Small groups of 13 volunteers will be taught horticulture and environmental conservation over a 6 month period by professional trainers and will travel around 36 of the borough’s green spaces to assist ‘friends’ groups in making physical improvements at each site. The groups will also make improvements to the grounds of 4 mental health settings.
A total of 52 volunteers will learn about planting, conservation, green gardening techniques and will also create seasonal displays and undertake inspirational visits to key regional sites. They will learn about health and safety, customer services and how to develop team-working skills. Each participant will pass their knowledge on to a further 104 people with mental health issues.
The 2 year project is designed to allow volunteers to find their maximum potential and learn skills which will enable them to enter the job market, with or without continued support.
Interested in joining?
If you would like to find out more visit the project website.
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Budding Together
Run by: London Wildlife Trust – Budding Together
Area: Kings Cross and Camden N1C 4PW
Ecominds award amount: £58,837
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Budding Together provides opportunities for adults in London to become involved in Wildlife and Environmental Conservation Activities at Camley Street Natural Park and also a selection of other Natural Spaces across North and Central London.
Volunteers have the opportunity to develop their skills in a range of practical conservation and horticultural tasks, as well as undertaking species surveying activities and contributing to the protection of the capitals wild spaces.
The project although informal and not accredited follows an NVQ structure, to give participants an opportunity to get a taste of following an accredited course of study. We hope this encourages them to progress within the life time at the project or a route at the completion of the project.
We encourage more experienced volunteers to mentor other volunteers new to the project, sharing their skills, knowledge and enthusiasm. We also encourage volunteers within our Budding Together Project to get involved within other London Wildlife Trust (LWT) programmes and benefit from the wide range of opportunities available across the capital within LWT projects.
It is great that LWT have volunteering opportunities for everyone, no matter what your background or ability is LWT make everyone welcome. Local resident
I really enjoy coming along to Camley Street Natural Park to join in with the Budding Together Project, it gives me the opportunity to turn off from some of the things that are going on in my life and to think about nature and the environment for a while. It gives me some breathing space. Project participant
Interested in joining?
If you are interested in joining the Budding Together Project, you can call Camley Street Natural Park directly on 020 78332311 and ask for Michelle Hussey (Budding Together Project Officer). Information about the project is also available on our website www.wildlondon.org.uk
Changing Minds
Run by: St Mary's Secret Garden
Area: Hackney E2
Ecominds award amount: £20,000
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Creating a green accessible space, designed, developed and maintained by people with mental health problems for their use - and that of the local community - as an aid to wellbeing.
Interested in joining?
Contact Paula at: paula@stmarysgarden.org.uk
Find out more at: www.stmaryssecretgarden.org.uk/
City and Hackney Mind Gardening Club
Run by: City and Hackney Mind
Area: Hackney E9
Ecominds award amount: £5,778
A gardening club, which will enable service users to aquire and develop the skills and confidence required to grow vegetables and flowers in an inner city enviroment.
Interested in joining?
Contact Jon Higgs at: jon.higgs@cityandhackneymind.org.uk
Core Landscape Social Enterprise Nursery
Run by: Core Arts
Area: E16
Ecominds award amount: £81,456
Supporting impact award amount: £15,000
Core Arts have taken on the lease of a derelict area of land in Newham and, with a grant from Ecominds have transformed it into a commercial plant nursery, community growing area and ‘pop up’ park. We have been working closely with the Newham regeneration team and 16 local community groups greening this grey land. The commercial nursery is specifically aimed at providing training, work experience and volunteering opportunities for local, often marginalised, people. We also involve our trainees from Core Arts, a mental health charity based in Hackney.
Our aim is to gain community benefit from the use of vacant sites in the area and improve the quality of the environment and community cohesion. The Growing PlacE16 site will become part of the new town centre and we hope to encourage a sense of local ownership and identity - and signify that plans for the area were progressing.
The initial response is great and has brought lots of people and local community groups together who wouldn't normally interact. We have had two fantastic large events on the site so far and a launch event which the deputy major of Newham opened. It has become a much loved local place and has generated a lot of enthusiasm.
I’ve been helping for a couple of months and I find it really rewarding…it gets me out of the house…you know you’ve done something positive…it makes you feel good…for me its win win. Service user
Interested in joining?
You can contact Matt at Core on 020 8986 3080, or email mmachouki@corearts.co.uk. Alternatively visit our website www.corearts.co.uk
Cultivating Minds
Run by: Richmond Borough Mind
Area: Richmond TW9
Ecominds award amount: £59,631
Cultivating Minds is an exciting ecotherapy project supporting people with mental health problems in the London Borough of Richmond. We work with people throughout their recovery, from hospital to community-based activities and volunteering opportunities.
The project works with inpatients from a local psychiatric ward. They benefit from green exercise at an early stage in their treatment and form links with the project to gain support when they leave the ward. Upon recovery they can continue to participate in gardening sessions which helps to build resilience and their long-term recovery.
Our community-based gardening sessions take place on an allotment in Crane Park Island that is being transformed by our volunteers. The space is now home to a variety of vegetables, fruits, herbs and native flowers. Tranquil and secluded, the garden is also used for relaxation, discussion, training courses and exercise.
The latest development, The Green Avengers; is a social enterprise staffed by volunteers with mental health problems. The Green Avengers offer gardening support and advice to local people who are physically unable to tend their gardens. Our gardeners gain the confidence and skills to acquire further training and employment. The work also helps to create a sustainable income for our ecotherapy activities.
As a horticulturalist myself; I think this project is brilliant. I've had my own experience of mental health problems in the past and I am very happy to support Richmond Borough Mind’s ecotherapy project. Richard Ward. Kew Garden’s Rotary Club
I'm diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and attending the allotment has helped to improve my mental health. Digging, planting and growing flowers and vegetables has made me feel I can achieve something as well as improving my concentration. Getting to know the other people in the group made me realise they were not out to get me. Volunteer
Interested in joining?
People can be referred to the project by their GP, social worker or Community Mental Health Team or they can make a self-referral. For enquiries, please call 07889 705695 or email Gary Faulkner.
Contact Gary to also find out how to book The Green Avengers.
You can also find more information on our website or follow us on Facebook.
Ecotherapy at Sydenham Garden
Run by: Sydenham Garden
Area: SE23 2LW
Ecominds award amount: £148,373
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Sydenham Garden is an award-winning local charity that aims to transform lives through therapeutic activities. We deliver a range of events and opportunities for the local community, but our service focuses on Lewisham and Bromley residents experiencing mental ill health or other significant illness - enabling them to improve their quality of life, social interaction and physical and mental health in a supportive community environment.
Our Ecominds grant has enabled us to expand our services so that more people can benefit, and to give our co-workers opportunities to decide the direction of the project and take on leadership roles in a supportive environment. It has also enabled us to engage the local community in the project and in environmental sustainability activities, in partnership with other organisations.
We’re delighted with our achievements so far - coworkers worked with staff to run a market stall project throughout the spring and summer, offering handmade goods and locally grown organic produce to the local community. The stall offered employability focused activities to those wanting to return to work or develop skills in this area. And have also worked with a wide range of mutual interest partners to local community food growing projects.
The work Sydenham Garden does is fantastic and during challenging times projects like this become even more important. Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham
Steven was referred to Sydenham Garden over two years ago by his GP due to experiencing high levels of anxiety, continual depressive symptoms and complications regarding his autism. Steven says he came to the project on a trial basis, met everybody, got stuck in and never looked back!.... He has felt the benefit of being out in the fresh air and has come to really enjoy his 20 minute walk to and from the garden once a week. He has also learnt …. he can be comfortable working alongside and getting on with people…Steven’s time at Sydenham Garden is coming to an end which he has conflicting feelings about. He is excited for what is ahead but scared that he might not find another place like Sydenham Garden! He is thankful that the project has helped him on his way to finding his place in the world and feels ready to give something back to society. Co-worker testimonial
Interested in joining?
You can find out about opportunities to get involved in the project on our website www.sydenhamgarden.org.uk You can also give us a call on 020 8291 1650 or email us at info@sydenhamgarden.org.uk
Fine @ the Vine Project
Run by: Forty Hall Community Vineyard
Area: Enfield, EN2 9HA
Ecominds award amount: £19,743
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Fine @ the Vine is developing a horticultural therapy project at a new community vineyard in Enfield. The project employs a qualified and highly experienced horticultural therapist who works with a range of mental health projects and their users to develop a high quality, output driven programme.
At the vineyard a range of activities are on offer including: planting, trellis work, weed management, pruning, summer thinning and harvesting. Capel Manor College (CMC), which manages the farm, has also offered the use of raised beds for vegetable and soft fruit growing to extend the range of project activities too.
At the project, horticultural skills training will be provided for all users - optional activities include involvement in community volunteering days with other groups and local residents, representing the vineyard at network meetings, food fairs, farmers markets etc, attending volunteer meetings and Board meetings, and contributing to the website and newsletter. We also support beneficiaries who want to explore routes onto access and other accredited horticultural and animal care courses run by the CMC.
Above all, Fine @ the Vine hope to provide users with an opportunity to a enjoy peaceful activity, companionship and nature in a beautiful and supportive environment.
Interested in joining?
Email enquiries@fortyhallvineyard.org.uk or visit our website www.fortyhallvineyard.org.uk for more information.
Forest Farm Peace Garden
Area: Hainault, Redbridge
Run by: Forest Farm Peace Garden
Ecominds award amount: £19,986
Forest Farm Peace Garden is a community food growing project working to promote health, wellbeing, cultural awareness, and environmental sustainability. Our two-acre permaculture garden is run by volunteers from the local community, including many who have suffered from mental ill-health, as well as refugees, asylum seekers and people with learning difficulties.
Our Ecominds funding has enabled us to provide more support to volunteers through setting up a buddy scheme. Our buddies are regular volunteers who are trained to welcome and support new volunteers and those with extra support needs, particularly people suffering from mental ill-health.
The Peace Garden provides a safe space where people can spend time in nature, learn new skills, and produce healthy food to take home. It’s also a place to meet new people and develop social skills through working and relaxing together. With the support of staff and the buddies, volunteers can progress at their own pace, working alone or with others, choosing which tasks they feel comfortable with, and gradually integrating with the group.
Interested in joining?
We are open to volunteers two days a week. For volunteering enquiries please email our bridge worker or call 07587 244459.
For general enquiries please email Natalie, our Project Co-ordinator, or visit the Forest Farm website.
Fresh in Mind
Run by: Mind in Bexley
Area: Bexleyheath DA6 8AS
Ecominds award amount: £17,697
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Fresh in Mind is transforming a derelict piece of land attached to a Mind premises into a sensory garden that can be used as a therapeutic community resource. It will be available to be enjoyed throughout the four seasons of the year, improving the local environment and users connection with the natural world. Our service users will be involved at all stages to make better use of our eco-space.
Sensory gardens have traditionally been used in reminiscence therapy and in the care of people with mental health problems. Garden colours and scents stimulate the brain. They give people a world that has a past and present reality, providing opportunities to exercise, socialise, and increase knowledge, understanding and experience of the local environment.
Our garden will be open all year round and accessible to service users, staff, volunteers and visitors, we aim to promote social inclusion.
Interested in joining?
If you are interested in joining Fresh in Mind all you need to is call us on 0208 303 5816 or visit our website www.mindinbexley.org.uk
FRP Eco-volunteering Programme
Run by: Forest Recycling Project
Area: Walthamstow, E17 9AW
Ecominds award amount: £59,980
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it still offers similar opportunities for volunteers. Please use the details below to contact the project directly for further information.
FRP's Eco-volunteering Programme provides supported environmental volunteering opportunities for people experiencing mental ill health.
There's on-going development and recruitment for volunteering activities within various initiatives at Forest Recycling Project (FRP), including: Green Office, The Paint Place, The ReUse Centre and Give or Take events.
With Ecominds' Supporting Change funding, FRP is working with its close partner, The Hornbeam Centre to establish a network of volunteers and local environmental organisations. Our partnerships with local organisations and health services, and valuable experience gained through our Ecominds work is being transferred to enable Hornbeam to become a hub for placing beneficiaries in positive environmental roles.
FRP has exciting volunteering opportunities enabling individuals to join a vibrant team, and be involved in a successful and ever-expanding community project, where you learning new skills while benefiting local people and the wider environment.
Volunteers engage in activities such as: office recycling services; collection, sorting and distribution of reusable goods; assisting with delivery of waste exchange and awareness raising Give or Take events; and creating products from recycled materials.
We offer you work experience and subsequent references, valuable transferable skills, a series of social events, and the chance to make a difference in your community.
To find out more please check out our website or watch our video.
Interested in joining?
Contact Poppy by email or call 020 8539 3856 if you would like more information on FRP’s Eco-volunteering Programme or to make an appointment to visit.
Get Fit, Stay Well
Run by: Commonside Community Development Trust
Area: Mitcham
Ecominds award amount: £20,000
Get Fit, Stay Well provide the following in the Mitcham and Pollards Hill areas:
- Exercise using the outdoor gyms
- Local interest walks
- Gardening opportunities.
We are lucky to have on hand, a range of outdoor gym equipment and run groups which are supported by a fitness trainer to encourage people to exercise regularly.
There are many green areas in the east Mitcham area where we enable people to get to know the local area better and enjoy being out and about in it.
Our community centre has its own garden, which we are developing in order to grow and sell our own food. For example, we would like to be able to produce fruit and vegetables for our lunch club for older people.
Interested in joining?
Call: 020 8764 9582, or email: naomi@commonside.net
We are working with local GP surgeries for formal and informal referrals if preferred. Ring in advance to book your place.
www.commonside.net
Green Therapy for Survivors of Torture
Run by: Freedom from Torture
Area: Islington N7 7JW
Ecominds award amount: £150,000
Supporting imapct award amount: £54,600
The Medical Foundation’s Ecominds grant is enabling us run our Green Therapy for Torture Survivors project. Each year we will work with 32 torture survivors from all around the world who have suffered terrible physical and psychological violence. Our clients have been persecuted for many reasons among which are ethnicity, gender, religious practice or political beliefs.
The project is based at an allotment in North London and our own therapy garden. The project comprises of three different green therapy groups which all provide very different forms of support. This ranges from intensive one-to-one work to medium level group therapy to utilising practical gardening tasks to aid well being.
Over the winter, project members will be involved in the creation of an installation art piece. This will eventually be given a home in a local park with the aim of raising awareness on the mental health needs of torture survivors.
Interested in joining?
Green therapy for torture survivors is one of the many rehabilitation services provided by the Medical Foundation. Referral for all our services is by the same route, a standard application form which can be found on our website.
Please note that we can only accept referrals from survivors of torture and organised violence.
Grounded Ecotherapy
Run by: Providence Row Housing Association – Grounded Ecotherapy
Area: Tower Hamlets, Hackney, The City, E2 OEA
Ecominds award amount: £59,758
Supporting impact award amount: £29,790
Grounded Ecotherapy supports adults with experience of mental health distress and co-occurring substance misuse problems.
We use the benefits of nature, physical and mental activities as a way of maintaining recovery. The social act of people working together builds natural bonds and thus prevents social isolation and relapse.
As a group we both build and maintain our own green spaces and build growing spaces for other local community groups. So far this has included building raised beds for local schools and services for the elderly. Not forgetting working with the Eden project on two silver medal winning gardens.
Our ethos is to create places where service users and staff work together to change lives. Service users are encouraged to become volunteer mentors who then go on to support others. And by tackling the ‘us and them’ mentality we help to break down the stigma surrounding mental health and addictions.
Grounded has helped me to meet lots of people and make friends. Service user
Going gardening gets me out of my flat and gives me something to do with the day. Service user
Interested in joining?
Telephone 020 8709 503, or email Kelvin Barton or Ken Greenway for more information and referral routes.
Have a look at Grounded's Facebook to find out what the team have been up to recently.
Growing in Minds
Run by: Brent Mind
Area: Wembley, HA9
Ecominds award amount: £19,663
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Growing in Minds volunteer allotment project was launched at the end of August. The project opens one day a week under supervision. Our time up until now has been almost solely taken with clearing the site – although a council property it could only be described as a jungle. We almost expected David Attenborough to appear at any time!
We currently have eight beds planted in fresh soil in preparation for lots of seed-sowing and growing and we are in the process of training volunteers to take the role of key holders (it is a very secure site) so we can increase the opening hours.
Interested in joining?
Visit out website pages for more information http://www.brentmind.org.uk/services/growinginmind/
Growing Skills Training Project
Run by: Trees for Cities
Area: Denmark Hill SE5 8EL
Ecominds award amount: £59,574
Supporting impact award amount: £29,947
After successfully training 20 Londoners with mental health problems, Trees for Cities has secured further funding for 10 more trainees. They will benefit from 13 weeks of horticultural training, learning life skills and landscaping - helping them gain an award, certificate, or level 1 diploma.
As well as the delivery of specialist training, the full project includes an individualised support programme, job search assistance, soft skills development, IAG sessions, employer and community engagement, tree planting, landscaping and other improvements for the local community.
I have been doing the Horticulture NVQ for the past two months and it has been a real eye opener. I appreciate just how much goes into making London’s open spaces available for local people to enjoy. The course is a fantastic opportunity to get out into the field, to improve the local area whilst earned a valued skill. I am learning constantly. It has given me the confidence I need to do gardening work. Stuart, Stockwell, participant
Interested in joining?
Visit our website for more information, or call Emma on 020 7840 5957 or email.
Alternatively, you can follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
HYPOD
Run by: Off Centre
Area: Hackney
Ecominds award amount: £59,959
Off Centre works to promote, preserve and restore the mental health and wellbeing of young people aged 11 to 25 living, working or studying in Hackney.
For 35 years, services such as counselling, art therapy, group work, advocacy, information and advice, have been provided to young people who have experienced trauma, emotional distress, discrimination and disadvantage.
The HYPOD (Hackney Young People Outdoors) project is working in partnership with CAMHS (Child & Adolescent Mental Health Services) in Dalston Eastern Curve Garden to transform two urban settings into cultivated spaces.
The project allows young people to gain practical outdoor skills, share experiences and feel connected to the outdoors.
Interested in joining?
Call 020 8986 4016 or visit the Off Centre website.
Nature and Nurture
Run by: Marsh Hill Project customers and Mandee Gage, artist
Area: Hackney
Ecominds award amount: £11,330
Marsh Hill Project is a 30-bed supported housing project managed by Look Ahead Housing and Care. It offers two year placements to adults with mental health problems who receive support with developing and improving independence and social inclusion. The specialised support is offered through personalisation model and the developed links with the community’s education, advice, employment and health services.
Nature and Nurture project is a piece of public art created on the grounds of the project by the customers, facilitated by the artist Mandee Gage. It is a combination of gardening, sculpture and pottery. During the planning and making all involved explored ideas around health, self-care and care of the environment.
The main aims are to encourage self expression, provide creative routes for accessing inner feelings, and develop self-confidence and community involvement. The end result is a product of collaboration between the Project’s customers and a few community organisations.
Nature and Nurture project helps me get on with my life, do something different and it gives me direction.Customer quote
I like making things and working with plants. The Project gives me an opportunity to spend more time with my friends and make new ones.Customer quote
PLANT! (Peckham Learning and Nature Team)
Rub by: London Wildlife Trust
Area: Peckham
Ecominds award amount: £19,991
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
PLANT! is a new project based at the London Wildlife Trust Centre for Wildlife Gardening (CWG), located behind a quiet residential street in Peckham. We provide a series of unique and stimulating three months placements of environmental activities. The aim is to reach 24 adults suffering mental distress, with particular emphasis on those from local BME communities.
Participants can engage in a range of activities based on their interests and physical ability, these include:
- Garden Maintenance: compost making, clearing, digging, sowing seeds, nurturing and harvesting vegetables and other plants.
- Practical conservation Work and environmental activities at other local green spaces: tree planting, wildlife identification, nature walks.
- Environmental and cultural based arts activities which provide a creative outlet, as well as regular themed events to raise awareness amongst the wider community.
Interested in joining?
Participants are from the local community in order to reflect the socio-demographic profile of Southwark, they can be referred by different agencies and health organisations. You can find out more information on our website www.wildlondon.org.uk
For both registration and referrals please contact Deborah Nakabiri (Community Project Officer PLANT!) on 020 7252 9186 or email dnakabiri@wildlondon.org.uk
PoLLeN (People, Life, Landscape and Nature)
Run by: Bromley by Bow Centre
Area: E3 3BT
Ecominds award amount: £141,347
Supporting impact award amount: £70,971
PoLLeN (People, Life, Landscape and Nature) is a Social and Therapeutic Horticulture project with the overall aim of improving the mental and physical wellbeing of individuals through increased activity levels and engagement with the natural environment.
The project offers a range of therapeutic horticultural and art related activities for people experiencing stress, anxiety, panic attacks, agitation, low mood, lack of confidence, or difficulty in coping with day-to-day life. Our activities include allotment growing, flower growing and arranging, park maintenance, art and design in the landscape, healthy eating and cooking. We also offer motivational coaching to members of the project, in which they are helped to overcome challenges and move forward positively to reach their goals.
Through individual engagement the project seeks to develop people's skills and employment opportunities, increase their social networks and integration into the local community, create a better sense of community ownership and improve the local environment.
If I hadn’t seen the transformation in him I wouldn’t have believed the power of projects like PoLLeN. Dr Aparna, Bromley by Bow Health Centre (referrer)
I went home singing after my session in PoLLeN yesterday, I haven’t done that for years. Service user
Sometimes I cannot believe how much my life has changed in the last three years. When I was ill I couldn’t imagine being able to work again. Lisa Cunningham, Project Coordinator
Interested in joining?
To find out more about the PoLLeN project please contact us on 020 8709 9714 or via email at pollen@bbbc.org.uk For more information please visit our website or watch this film.
Individuals can self-refer or be referred via their GP or other support agencies - please email for referral forms and criteria.
Putting Down Roots
Run by: St Mungo’s
Area: London and the South
Ecominds award amount: £148,142
Supporting impact award amount: £51,581
St Mungo’s, a leading homelessness charity based in London and the South, has been providing horticultural training opportunities for homeless people for over 10 years.
Thanks to Ecominds, we were able to employ at Mental Health Gardener Trainer who works specifically with our homeless and vulnerable clients who are suffering from mental ill health. The Trainer supports and guides participants to help improve their lives and mental wellbeing through gardening.
Working in hostel gardens as well as our allotment, participants learn new skills, gain qualifications and build positive relationships. Being outdoors and active has also proven to be very beneficial to the individuals involved. During the winter months our participants get to learn a little bit of plant physiology when the weather keeps them indoors!
Interested in joining?
To find our more about St.Mungo’s visit: www.mungos.org/pdr
Recycling Space
Note: Ecominds funding for this project ended in June 2011.
Read on to see what Recycling Space have achieved and how you can get involved in new projects.
Run by: Advocates for the Homeless
Area: SE16 1JP and SE11 4TH
Ecominds award amount: £19,927
Advocates for the Homeless is a social enterprise which helps people move away from homelessness and towards learning and work. We particularly develop projects where homeless people can learn DIY/construction skills by working on empty buildings. This has vocational, therapeutic and environmental benefits.
Our Ecominds ‘Recycling Space’ project taught construction and gardening skills to homeless people who have a history of mental distress, whilst at the same time renovating empty buildings and spaces. The grant covered the cost of two part-time trainers.
The project ran at two sites. Firstly a former lock-up shop with a 3 bedroom flat attached in Rotherhithe. This building had been empty for two years and we have been renovating the flat, improving the garden space and converting the former shop area into a training room. The second site was a building called The Old Lambeth Workhouse in Kennington. Here developed a wildlife garden area and also a more formal garden area.
Over the past year, more than 15 people with a history of mental distress have been directly involved with the project. They have learned skills including: plasterboarding, carpentry, plastering, painting and decorating and gardening. All have reported improvements in their confidence levels.
It’s been really nice to see the garden at number 84 transformed from an eyesore into somewhere that’s pleasant to look at. Local resident living near Rotherhithe site
I really enjoyed my time on the project. It was great to get outside and get my hands dirty. I also met some really nice people and picked up a few skills on the way.Service user
Interested in joining?
Our Ecominds Recycling Space project concluded in June 2011. However, you can find out more about our work at www.phases.org.uk
From January 2011 we will be known as ‘PHASES’.
You can also telephone on 01273 710011.
Roots and Boots
Run by: Peter Bedford Housing Association
Areas: E8, N16, N4, N7, N1, N19
Ecominds award amount: £126,663
This project supports Peter Bedford tenants, service users and local volunteers to develop communal gardens in Islington and Hackney.
Service users are supported alongside local volunteers from University of Third Age (U3A), a lifelong learning co-operative for older people no longer in full time work. The U3A’s volunteers provide mentoring and hands-on gardening support.
Participants design, develop and maintain nine sites to increase shared use and ownership over their outside spaces. They develop new skills and build relationships with other residents and the local community. Activities increase understanding of what makes a healthy environment delivered through practical, creative workshops in food growing, use of natural materials, and caring for nature.
A dedicated Horticultural Officer and Roots n Boots Coordinator encourages recruitment and retention, provides a supportive environment and coordinates activities to optimise the value of the project to residents, and linking with other local volunteering and training opportunities. This includes inspirational visits and 10 funded places on a horticulture course at St Mary’s Secret Garden, a local charity.
Interested in joining?
To join contact us on 020 7923 9255 and ask for Paul Woodmin (Project Co-ordinator) or Arinola Oladejo (VCS Team Leader) for information about the project and an appointment time. An application form will be completed at the appointment.
Seed to Succeed
Run by: Crisis
Area: Spitalfields, Tower Hamlets
Ecominds award amount: £19,743
Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people. We are dedicated to ending homelessness by delivering life-changing services and campaigning for change.
Seed to Succeed is our Ecominds-funded food growing project, which works in partnership with and on site at the Attlee Youth and Community Centre. It uses food growing as a tool to improve the mental health, physical well-being and knowledge and skills of homeless and vulnerably-housed people. Led by the Crisis Skylight Garden Tutor, project activities run during four ten-week terms per year, on Mondays from 12pm to 4pm.
We utilise the help of up to three volunteers in workshops and aim to document the lifespan of the project photographically. We even hope to use the produce grown for the Crisis Skylight Café, our social enterprise providing free training and accredited qualifications to our members pursuing catering as a career.
Interested in joining?
If you are interested in joining Seed to Succeed, please contact Paula Lonergan on 020 7426 3834.
Urban Growth
Run by: St James’ House
Area: Camden, NW1
Ecominds award amount: £248,577
Urban Growth is a work-based training and recovery programme based in Camden, which supports people with mental health problems gain the skills and stability needed to return to employment. It is open to residents of all London boroughs who have mental health problems, aged between 18 and 55, and want to get into employment.
The programme includes one-to-one therapeutic support, training in food growing and urban horticulture, healthy eating and cooking, access to vocational horticultural training and qualifications to NVQ Level 2. Our project aims to also improve neglected green spaces through planting, growing and creating edible hedges; growing vegetables, herbs and soft fruit; and setting up horticultural and environmental awareness and skills training for local communities.
The programme lasts two years and activities are both practical and theoretically based, with a view to enabling participants to eventually find employment within the horticulture sector.
Ecominds has enabled us to employ part-time staff members that run the project, cover the cost of permitted work placements and volunteers, and fund the materials needed for training sites and horticultural structures.
I would like to say that it is a fantastic development and an asset to the area. We used to have security issues in this space of land, and since the Urban Growth Project has been working there daily, it has turned into an attractive productive looking piece of land. Volunteer from St. Michael’s church
The Urban Growth Project has given my life routine and structure and a bridge back to normal living. The skills I am gaining will be invaluable to me for the rest of my life. I have the ambition of making my life experiences count for the wider community and through Urban Growth I believe this will be possible. Project member
Interested in joining?
For more information call us on 0207 428 5999 or download the Urban Growth information pack from our website.
Clients can be referred by the Community Mental Health Team, social worker, GP, housing support worker, any other professional or self referral.
Clients and professionals can attend our open sessions every other Monday at 2.30pm to introduce the recovery programmes to potential clients and professionals. To book call us on 020 7428 5999
Service users resident in Camden can have free access to our other programs at St James’ House, while non-Camden residents will need spot-funding (which can be obtained for interested members).
Bankside Biodiversity, Waterloo Wildlife Mental Health Volunteering Project
Run by: Bankside Open Spaces Trust
Area: SE1 1HA
Ecominds award amount: £19,966
Bankside Biodiversity, Waterloo Wildlife Mental Health Volunteering project aims to involve mental health service users in horticultural therapy and nature training sessions. Participants can take part in a range of wildlife activities including gardening, nature training sessions and wildlife improvements.
Good fun and lifted my mood. Service user
Interested in joining?
To join the project please contact Mary O’Connell on 0207 928 6303 or email mary@bost.org.uk. Alternatively, to find out more, visit our Facebook page.
Waterway Wellbeing
Run by: Thames21
Area: London wide
Ecominds award amount: £19,486
Please note: This project has completed its Ecominds-funded work. However, it may still be offering similar opportunities for volunteers. Please contact the project directly for further information.
Waterway Wellbeing invites volunteers to help us undertake projects on and around London’s waterways; we run gardening events, waterway vegetation management, walks around the canals, clean-ups, and creative projects. These events help improve the local environment for the benefit of all who visit.
Outdoor physical work has been proven to benefit people with mental distress, Thames21’s events give volunteers the chance to learn new skills, meet people and spend time relaxing and enjoying the outdoors. Volunteers can get involved in as many events as they wish and we provide support for them in a friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
Our Ecominds grant has enabled us to employ a part-time Project Coordinator; he will be running a variety of events all over London, and supporting volunteers with mental distress.
As a volunteer, I am made to feel very welcome, it feels like a family atmosphere. I have gained so many positives since volunteering late spring 2010. My health has improved, I've lost weight, I’ve learnt about waterways and wildlife, met huge amounts of interesting people and made many friends. I'm happier and a more contented person since I have started volunteering with Thames21. To top it all off, I know I am helping improve the environment. Simon volunteer
Interested in joining?
To find out more about Waterway Wellbeing take a look at our website www.thames21.org.uk or blog photo blog http://thames21.tumblr.com/ All upcoming events are listed here www.thames21.org.uk/events If you would like to join us contact Ben on ben.fenton@thames21.org.uk or 07920 230970