A-Z of mental health
Information and advice on a huge range of mental health topics
Region - North West
Scroll down to read about our Ecominds projects in the North West or click on the project you are interested in.
| Name | Area |
| Branch Out | Burnley |
| Community Gardeners | Merseyside |
| Crafting Confidence | Blackburn |
| Forest Schools | Bolton |
| Garden Needs | Salford |
| Growing On | Allerton, Liverpool |
| Growing Well | Kendal, Cumbria |
| Grozone Community Garden | Northwich, Cheshire |
| Kitchen Garden | Tameside, Oldham and Glossop |
| Natural Recovery | Sale |
| Planting Positive Futures | Carlisle |
Branch Out Project
Run by: Pennine Lancashire Community Farm
Area: Burnley, BB10 1LL
Ecominds award amount: £250,000
The Branch Out Project gives individuals the opportunity to take part in a wide range of eco activities across East Lancashire that help individuals on their road to recovery. The activities include:
- Grow your own – horticulture based activities from sowing and planting to creating growing spaces.
- Woodland skills – coppicing, fencing, nature conservation, and tree planting at various sites.
- Dry stone walling – the essential skills of dry stone walling.
- Down on the Ffrm – farm visits and learning about livestock.
- Green woodworking/ rustic furniture making – learning about the tools and techniques of green woodworking.
- Eco art – learning drawing and painting skills to create nature-based artwork.
- Willow weaving – learning willow-weaving skills.
- Wool art – designing and creating products using hand-dyed wool, using traditional techniques.
- Digital photography – learning the skills needed to take stunning wildlife photos.
- Local food – learning about mushroom growing, foraging for wild food and using traditional and seasonal fruit and vegetables.
It was excellent to see the site develop and be used by so many different people. Local resident.
The project has been very valuable for me and my depression. It has thus been beneficial with my recovery. Service user
Interested in joining?
For general information please contact Ed Milne on 01282 421690. For a direct referral please contact Andy Wild on 01282 436807. Alternatively visit our website www.penninelancashirecommunityfarm.org or our Facebook page
Community Gardeners
Run by: Feelgood Factory
Area: Netherton, Merseyside
Ecominds award amount: £19,997
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.
Community Gardeners is a local gardening service that supports and enables volunteers with mental health problems to learn new skills and provide a valuable gardening service for vulnerable people in their community.
Opportunities exist to work in our community allotment and to undertake gardening work for older people living in their own homes. The project improves the mental and physical well being and social interaction of volunteers and helps to enhance their self confidence and sense of value in the community through the provision of valued community service.
Community Gardeners also reduces stigma by enabling people with mental health problems to provide a service that improves the lives of others and helps them to integrate into their communities.
During my time here I have really developed my gardening skills which has been very beneficial to me. Also the people whose gardens we have worked on are very happy and grateful for what we have done and I find that very rewarding.
I feel as though my confidence has grown since I started here, not only in gardening but in my communication skills as well.
I also find it to have been extremely beneficial for my mood and mental health in general.
Interested in joining?
For further details contact Marie Rice or Eddie Murphy on 0151 291 8010.
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Crafting Confidence
Run by: Community and Business Partners CIC
Area: Blackburn, BB2 3UA
Ecominds award amount: £59,447
Supporting Impact award amount: £23,366
Crafting Confidence provides fun and therapeutic sessions in a supportive environment for adults coping with mental health problems. We run therapeutic creative art and crafts sessions using materials donated by local companies, which would normally end up in landfill sites, but which have excellent value for this purpose. Our clients are supported by their carers and the tutor in exploring different methods of creative craft.
I really enjoyed making my bowl. The Tutors are friendly and help me to feel confident and I like working with the rest of the group. I would like to do this forever! Service user
Interested in joining?
To find out more call 01254 291 271 or visit www.cbpartners.org You can be referred by your GP, other NHS professional, Local Mind Association or Help the Aged.
Forest Schools
Run by: Bolton Lads and Girls Club
Area: Smithills Country Park, Bolton
Ecominds award amount: £20,000
The Ecominds grant was to support the delivery of an innovative programme of Forest School activity that would enable young people with direct experience of mental distress to access their local environment, enhance their emotional wellbeing and improve the quality of local green spaces that will benefit the whole community.
Interested in joining?
Sadly this project is no longer running but to find out more about the organisation visit their website or telephone 01204 540100
Garden Needs
Run by: Mind in Salford
Area: Salford
Ecominds award amount: £150,000
Supporting Impact award amount: £55,927
Garden Needs is a community wellbeing garden centre with a mental health focus set in Higher Broughton in Salford and bordering Kersal Dale Nature Reserve. The project is a partnership between Mind in Salford and Social Adventures and received two years' Ecominds funding.
We aim to work with a wide range of local people with a focus on those who have experienced mental or emotional probelms. We run drop-in gardening sessions twice a week and run four-week horticultural training programmes. We also provide a range of volunteering opportunities and placements for those who would like to get more involved.
We host a range of events for the whole community, including workshops, training events and social activities. We have plans to develop our site to include a small café, eco-buildings, wildlife and sensory areas and even a small camping area!
Our overall aim is to create a fantastic community resource that will give people the opportunity to learn new skills, meet new people and enjoy the pleasure of working in a beautiful outdoor setting – a holistic wellbeing garden centre.
Interesting in joining?
If you would like more information about Garden Needs then visit our website at www.gardenneeds.org.uk or contact Simon on 0161 792 5448.
TCV Growing On
Run by: TCV Merseyside
Area: Allerton, Liverpool L25 7UN
Ecominds award amount: £20,000
TCV Merseyside's Growing On is a project designed to help break down the stigma and barriers that people with experience of mental distress encounter within society. Based around the TCV Merseyside tree nursery at Clarke Gardens in Allerton, we maintain the nursery and collect tree/wildflower seeds from the local nature reserve that adjoins the land.
Volunteers then plant the seeds into raised beds where they're tendered and grown into young plants before being dug up and planted out on sites for local councils, housing associations, community groups and other organisations – helping to improve the environment by supplying locally sourced plants to the Merseyside area.
We encourage people with experience of mental distress to work alongside other volunteers, opening the door for new friendships and growing horticultural skills.
It is great to see the walled garden being used for a project such as this, allowing local people too get involved. Since it closed as a [retail outlet] it has just been going to rack and ruin, such a waste, but now it is back in use and we can get involved. Glynn, Member of the friends of Clarke Gardens
Its great to come down to Clarke Gardens, the atmosphere here is so nice, I look forward to the times when we work down here. Nicola, TCV Merseyside volunteer
Interested in joining?
If anyone is interested in joining in with the project, please ring Neil on 07740899716 or Arthur on 07740899726 or look us up on our volunteer activities website at www.btcv.org.uk/cgi-bin/office_opps_ind.cgi?ref=20016®ion=nw
Growing Well
Run by: Growing Well
Area: Near Kendal, LA8 8AE
Ecominds award amount: £148,984
Supporting Impact award amount: £34,540
This project builds on Growing Well's successful involvement of people recovering from mental health problems in organic horticulture over the last four years. Our Ecominds funding has enabled us to create a role of a dedicated Volunteer Co-ordinator, who will build bridges into Growing Well for potential participants recovering from mental distress, and to meet the travelling costs of participants to our project.
Growing Well operates an organic growing company on 10 acres of dairy farm at the edge of the Lake District. We sell our produce directly to local people through a very successful Community Support Agriculture (CSA) scheme as well as to local retailers.
We aim to provide opportunities for our participants to be involved in the business at all levels, from seed-sowing to our board of directors. Alongside our growing activities we also offer horticulture courses to the local community and run a popular programme of educational visits to the farm.
The children love it there – there’s always something different to see and learn….These visits have been the best opportunities the children have had to see there is another life outside the estate. A true nurturing environment. Ryelands Primary School
I would never have gone to the AGM twelve months ago. I am seeing changes – I wouldn’t have gone to the Open Day twelve months ago. – I am really seeing how ill I was over the last five years. I do feel things have changed, Growing Well was fundamental to it. Volunteer
I really enjoy the activities, they are stretching me, though I can sometimes get frustrated – it’s all good practice for going back to work. Volunteer
Interested in joining?
Visit our website www.growingwell.co.uk or phone 015395 61777 to contact the project to discuss your needs and to arrange an initial visit to the project.
Grozone – Connect and Be Active
Run by: Grozone
Area: Northwich, Cheshire CW9 5QA
Ecominds award amount: £9,814
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.
Grozone is a community garden project in Northwich that aims to provide a supportive and welcoming environment for local people to become involved in the regeneration of a derelict site. The vision for the garden is that of a welcoming green oasis, where the local community can meet, relax, and take part in activities to benefit health and wellbeing such as food growing, outdoor exercise, volunteering and environmental education. The garden is being designed by the community, managed by a community group and community volunteers are building it.
The Ecominds funding is being used to run our Connect and Be Active volunteering sessions, where we engage people with mental health issues as volunteers, working alongside other community volunteers and taking part in:
- physical activities: learning a skill such as how to construct paths, growing plants or manual tasks such as weeding and pushing a wheelbarrow.
- social activities: talking to and working alongside others, intergenerational working, working cooperatively with others through team and group work.
- personal development activities: mindfulness – being aware of ourselves, others and the natural world; taking responsibility – making the tea, clearing away tools; building self-esteem – doing something you are good at.
I am thoroughly enjoying volunteering at the Grozone for many reasons, not least because of the great people I meet there. It is very satisfying to help transform an unused grot-spot into a good-looking and useful community asset. Community volunteer
I enjoyed meeting new people and doing the work, feel more fulfilled. Service user
Having hacked and hewed branches and stumps I will sleep better. Service user
Interested in joining?
You can refer yourself by speaking to Mike Inger at Groundwork Cheshire on 01606 723160 email mike.inger@groundwork.org.uk or visit our website.
Alternatively you can be referred through organisations such as your GP surgery, Making Space, Vale Royal Disability Services, West Cheshire Mental Health Team.
The Kitchen Garden
Run by: Tameside Oldham and Glossop Mind
Area: Tameside, Oldham and Glossop, Office: OL6 7AS; Allotment: SK14 5RW
Ecominds award amount: £20,000
The Kitchen Garden is a productive, inclusive and welcoming allotment project, supporting people through therapeutic horticulture and related physical exercise with the aim to improve their wellbeing. Based on an allotment site in Gee Cross, we’re open to anyone living in Tameside, Oldham and Glossop, over the age of 16 who can self-refer.
At the project volunteers help to maintain the allotment site and can also take part in a number of sessions, including: structured short-term taster courses focusing on particular areas of gardening such as seed sowing, transplanting and pruning. We also offer drop-in sessions where people can come and assist in general allotment tasks
Our allotment is a productive unit, providing fresh vegetables and fruit to our Topaz café, and when there is enough we also supply produce to other venues used by volunteers.
Interested in joining?
Self referral – anyone aged 16 and over living in Tameside, Oldham or Glossop can use the allotment project. Phone 0161 330 9223 or visit our website for more details.
Natural Recovery
Run by: Natural Recovery
Area: Sale, Greater Manchester M33 5AL
Ecominds award amount: £17,395
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.
Natural Recovery is a community group that aims to use nature as a way of improving people’s lifestyles.
In January 2010, we started growing organic vegetables at Syrian House, a residential care home for adults with enduring mental health problems located in Sale. Thanks to Ecominds, we are now transforming this lawned area into an art-based Sensory Garden for the pleasure of residents, other visiting service users, and people from the local community.
The garden contains an organic vegetable plot and includes colourful and edible flowers, soft plants, aromatic herbs and eco-friendly pieces of art created during regular art workshops. We offer two types of activities open for anyone in the community; gardening sessions and art workshops. In both cases, we focus on the development of service users’ living skills to promote their independence and recovery.
The project promotes sustainability while showing the benefits of growing your own food using organic methods and conserving nature by encouraging wildlife into the garden. We aim to bring together residents and volunteers in an attempt to reduce social exclusion and combat any stigma relating to mental health.
This is my first time working in mental health and I must say it really changed my mind about how to relate to people who have mental health problems. I believe working in the garden improves the physical and mental health of everyone involved.Cristian, volunteer with Natural Recovery
We have a close-knit team of volunteers, dedicated to promoting sustainability, social inclusion and helping the residents of Syrian House in their recovery. I have enjoyed every second of the project, learning something new every day, and meeting many new friends. Carolina, project coordinator at Natural Recovery
I enjoyed watering the tomatoes in the greenhouse and working in the garden. They are all nice people and I am looking forward to the art activities.Colin, Syrian House resident
Interested in joining?
All the information about when we meet and how to contact us can be found in our website www.naturalrecovery.org.uk
You can also keep up to date with our news and activities by visiting our Facebook page and by reading our blog.
If you are interested in joining please email info@naturalrecovery.org.uk or call 0845 456 4468.
Planting Positive Futures
Run by: Carlisle Eden Mind and Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Area: Carleton Clinic, Carlisle, Cumbria CA11 7XZ
Ecominds award amount: £18,075
Our project, Planting Positive Futures, is based in the Carleton Clinic in Carlisle. The project is aimed at providing therapeutic activities in the ‘green sanctuary’ garden for the inpatient community based at the clinic. It will offer additional resources to service users from all five of the inpatient units at the clinic to enjoy being outside of the ward environment and a chance to use the space creatively.
Based around horticulture, the garden can be used for growing flowers and vegetables, gardening activities or just as a space to enjoy the sun. We want the space to be used by anyone who will benefit and to improve their wellbeing and recovery.
Last season, our first, made the garden a green and colourful space. With our greenhouse producing lovely tomatoes and cucumbers, and the flowerbeds a blaze of colour, it was a really great place to be! We also had Tai Chi sessions for inpatients and staff, created two pieces of art and the space was used by the creative writing group. The garden has become a place used by patients, Clinic staff and for visitors and carers.
Lovely to come out and see the garden with my grandmother. Grandma watered her own sweet peas and we had a look around. I especially enjoyed the strawberries. My grandmother is in her element where gardening is concerned and it was lovely to see how much pleasure it brings to her. Granddaughter of service user
Thanks, excellent to get my hands back in the muck again! Can’t wait to watch and cook up the produce. Service user
Interested in joining?
For more information and how to take part contact Carlisle Eden Mind, our details are available from our website www.edenmind.org.uk or you can contact Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust www.cumbriapartnership.nhs.uk