A-Z of mental health
Information and advice on a huge range of mental health topics
Region - South East
Scroll down to read all about our Ecominds-funded projects in this region or click on the project you are interested in.
| Name | Area |
| Abbey Physic Community Garden | Faversham, Kent |
| Blooming Marvellous | Rushmoor, Hampshire |
| Earthwise Project | Ringmer, East Sussex |
| ELM Project | Isle of Wight |
| Grow | Brighton, East Sussex |
| Grow2Grow | Edenbridge, Kent |
| Growing 4 Life |
Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Hampshire |
| Growing Better Lives | Slough |
| Growing Together | Hastings, East Sussex |
| Let's Grow | Shepway, Kent |
| Minding The Garden |
Hart District (North Hants) |
| Orchard Shed project | Margate, Kent |
| Parks and Minds | Worthing, East Sussex |
| Restore's Community Gardens | Oxford |
| Rural Crafts Project | Witney, Oxfordshire |
| Wildwood Ecominds Project | Herne Bay, Kent |
| York House | Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes |
Abbey Physic Community Garden
Run by: Abbey Physic Community Garden
Area: Faversham, Kent ME13 7BG
Ecominds award amount: £19,070
Supporting impact award amount: £8,785
Abbey Physic Community Garden is a beautiful half acre, walled community space for people with mental health problems. People join as member gardeners and volunteer in the garden. Ecominds funding contributes to the salaries of two part-time staff and is being used to develop the sustainability of the garden. The project reduces the stigma of mental health problems in the following ways:
- providing opportunities for accredited training
- increasing enterprise activities, such as selling crafts and garden produce
- developing closer links with local schools
- holding open days.
Interested in joining?
Call 01795 539915
Blooming Marvellous
Run by: Rushmoor Voluntary Services
Area: Rushmoor GU14 7LE
Ecominds award amount: £58,947
Blooming Marvellous is a supported volunteering gardening project. It aims to empower those who want to volunteer but need support to do so. Our volunteers enjoy making a difference to the gardens and green spaces of Rushmoor in Hampshire. They are keen to help local residents and organisations manage and enhance the local environment while at the same time improving their own mental and physical wellbeing.
In addition to this, the volunteers can take advantage of both formal and informal training opportunities. They get together three afternoons a week to carry out their activities and support each other, as well as take an active role in the development of the project.
Hazel and her team did an absolutely marvellous job. I can’t say how relieved I am to be rid of the overgrowth and weeds. I now feel encouraged to try to maintain it again.Mrs Vane, Farnborough, local resident.
Thank your volunteers for all the hard work they did in the Well Being Centre garden. It has made a huge difference to the staff and the service users, and will enable us to start smaller projects with the service users… Plans are already in place to encourage service users to bring in plants for their own pots to brighten up the garden and make it more manageable.Zoe, Well Being Centre, Frimley
I like having something to do… rather than sitting around getting depressed. The bonus is that we help people in need.Kate, participant
Interested in joining?
Like to know more or know someone who would? Phone Joan Giles or Hazel Chant on 01252 540162, email joan@rvs.org.uk or take a look at our blog www.Bloomingmarvellousrushmoor.blogspot.com
Earthwise Project
Run by: Circle of Life Rediscovery
Area: Ringmer, East Sussex BN8 5JG
Ecominds award amount: £19,988
The Earthwise project is a community interest company that brings together young people who experience mental distress, families and Child and Adolescence Mental Health Services staff to create and participate in outdoor-based Youth Leadership and woodland activities.
Circle of Life Rediscovery’s primary aim is for young people to find their individual strengths to care for themselves, for others and their environment - instilling a sense of belonging and appreciation of the natural world.
Our project will offer opportunities for teenagers to gain a woodland-based accreditation alongside volunteering on other days to support younger people and their families. We hope to provide a welcoming space where participants feel confident to fully participate, to know they can have an opinion that is valued and a right to vocalise their needs.
We are only three months into the project and have run our first family day and staff training day. The feeling so far is – when can we do more?!
Interested in joining?
Please visit www.circleofliferediscovery.com to find out more about what we offer, or alternatively call the office phone on 01273 814226.
ELM
Run by: The Hampton Trust
Area: Isle of Wight PO36 OLT
Ecominds award amount: £33,150
ELM (Eco for Life Mentoring) hosts a project for chidren/young people on the island living with a mental health problem (either directly or via a close family member). We currently deliver an eco-mentoring programme, where young people are matched with a trained and accredited volunteer eco-mentor who supports them to access a programme of practical courses such as Red Squirrel, Forest School and Pond Warden.
ELM has used Ecominds' funding to lease land and a workshop to provide a base for the eco-mentoring project to evolve. It has enabed young people to have direct access to land so that they can put their new skills into practice, developing a therapeutic wildlife environment for others to enjoy. The workshop space is used for training and education.
While mentors currently receive a qualification, young participants do not. We intend to develop the project so that young people, too, can obtain a meaningful qualification to help them access further training, education or employment.
We are so excited about working alongside an external agency that has an interest in both the environment and young people.Teacher at Broadlee Primary School
A young person came to the farm with his mentor. He showed an interest in making identification plaques so that people can read about the trees in the woodland, but was made aware that some people may be visually impaired. This was his solution: “It’s important to use the bark and twigs from the tree so people who run their hands over it will be able to feel what they are seeing.”
Interested in joining?
Phone 01983 863299, visit our website www.hamptontrust.org.uk or ask to be referred by your GP or mental health support worker.
Grow
Run by: Mind in Brighton and Hove
Area: Brighton and Hove BN2
Ecominds award amount: £19,925
Supporting impact award amount: £12,014
Grow is an exciting new project run by Mind in Brighton and Hove. Working in partnership with the National Trust, we offer people with experience of mental distress and their carers the opportunity to enjoy the local countryside and to benefit from the therapeutic effects that being out in nature can bring.
Every season we take on a closed group of 15 people. We meet on 2 Thursdays a month to go and try out a range of activities based largely out of Saddlescombe Farm – a local National Trust property based on the South Downs. Activities include guided nature walks looking at the local wildlife, conservation work including fence-mending, footpath restorations and scrub bashing, green woodworking and coppicing.
Every person brings their own unique experiences and interests to the group and the range of activities we can offer is increasing as people offer new skills such as outdoors yoga, art therapy and photography. The emphasis is very much on the participants choosing the activities they would like to try.
The project will also provide links to other voluntary and community groups and will offer mental health awareness training to these groups to help break down some of the barriers and stigma associated with mental ill-health.
I have loved just being taken somewhere lovely, having it all organised for me and feeling really looked after
I have been physically quite unwell for some time but after today, I feel well again which I haven’t felt for a long time
My voices are quieter when I’m in the countryside
Interested in joining?
New people can join the project every 4 months – the next two intakes will be in June 2011 and September 2011.
For more information and to secure a place contact Julie Wright or Jo Wren on 01273 666950 or email Julie.wright@mindcharity.co.uk or jo.wren@mindcharity.co.uk
Grow2Grow
Run by: WWOOF (World-wide opportunities on organic farms) in partnership with Commonwork
Area: near Edenbridge, Kent TN8 7AR
Ecominds award amount: £249,260
Supporting impact award amount: £105,796
Grow2Grow provides therapeutically supported placements for vulnerable young people, aged between 16 and 25 years, on an organic dairy farm in Kent. Here young people work with us to grow organic fruit and vegetables, provide produce for meals at Commonwork education and public events. In addition to this they can work with the dairy herd, learning milking and stock work. They can also get accreditation in horticulture and land based studies through a partnership we have formed with a local school.
We currently have five young people regularly attending the project three days per week, and together we've built a beautiful log cabin with mostly reclaimed materials from the farm and are also currently transforming a grazing field on Bore Place Farm into an acre-and-a-half market garden.
Our Ecominds grant enabled us to recruit a project manager who is also a clinical psychologist, a horticulture therapist and an occupational therapist.
We had a lovely day and weren't at all tired. The lunch was delicious and inspired us to make parsnip soup. Sarah and John who attended our volunteer hedge planting day.
I feel peaceful as soon as I arrive here – it’s the only place in my life which isn’t noisy. AW, young person attending the project
I felt confident to cook for my dad for the first time because of what I’ve learnt here. SL, young person attending the project
Interested in joining?
We can take up to eight young people per day. To find out more contact Paula Conway (Clinical Psychologist and Project Manager) on 01732 463255 or email Paula. Alternatively visit the Commonwork website for more information.
Referrals can be made by GPs, community mental health services, leaving care services, children and young people’s services and Connexions. We offer an initial meeting for the young person and the referrer, and a tour of the farm, followed by a six-week trial/induction period. We then offer up to three days per week for up to two years.
Forthcoming event at Commonwork
Growing towards recovery July 2013 (external link)
Commonwork in partnership with Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, Jobs in Mind and Growing Better Lives are hosting a two-day conference at Bore Place, Kent. The event will explore how green care approaches can benefit mental health and social inclusion.
Growing 4 Life
Run by: Thrive
Area: Berkshire, Hampshire and South Oxfordshire
Ecominds award amount: £145,644
Growing 4 Life works on green space sites in local communities such as allotments, parks woodlands, and other public green spaces with public access.
Now in its second year, this exciting project teaches gardening, conservation skills and uses these activities to improve mental health and wellbeing. There is a strong focus on social interaction and creating self supporting groups who can continue to meet after the six month period of the programme.
Each group is supervised and supported by a Project Officer from Thrive for its six months duration. Groups meet once a week for a three hour activity session. From the projects completed in the first year, there are now two self supporting groups continuing to meet in Hampshire and Berkshire.
The project is open to older adults who have had any experience of mental ill health. We particularly encourage participation by people over 55.
In its first year, Growing 4 Life has supported over 30 participants and helped to improve five local community green spaces.
I feel I have achieved my aims and I hope to continue to improve.
Participant at Moorgreen allotment project near Eastleigh
I’ve managed to improve my anxiety when working in a group and have learned new gardening skills
Participant at Moorgreen allotment project, near Eastleigh
I find that the park visitors appreciate our work and I like to think that I have become a part of it. My gardening knowledge has widened and I know I can learn much more. My fellow gardeners are a fun bunch and we laugh a lot
Participant at Dinton Pastures Country Park, Wokingham
Dates for 2012
The project has the following sites confirmed for 2012
- Viables Community Centre, Basingstoke starts early spring 2012
- Testbourne Community School, Hants starts early spring 2012
Interested in joining?
We can take referrals from GPs, Community Mental Health Teams and other professionals. We also accept self-referrals.
We invite applicants to attend a taster session if they would find it helpful. For more information or to make an application/referral, please contact:
Simon Chapman or Carl Harney, Project Officers
Thrive,
Geoffrey Udall Centre,
Beech Hill,
Reading RG7 2AT
T: 0118 988 5688
W: www.thrive.org.uk
Growing Better Lives
Run by: Exclusion Link
Area: Slough, SL2 4HE
Ecominds award amount: £57,709
Growing Better Lives has established therapeutic programmes in natural environments, involving youngsters and adults. It builds on an NHS pilot programme in Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire, the ‘Thames Valley Initiative’, which was itself based on health, educational and criminal justice policy ‘No Longer a Diagnosis of Exclusion’.
It works with people with longstanding and complex emotional difficulties and is based on the philosophy that many modern mental health services have become ‘industrialised’ and by having therapy programmes in natural settings, people will be able to ‘reconnect’ with nature, and each other. This will help service users to establish better relationships in all areas of their lives.
A small number of the staff has very high levels of experience and expertise in providing specialist NHS services for similar client groups.
Interested in joining?
The project is based in Slough at a council nursery and is open to adults with longstanding emotional difficulties.
For further information phone David on 07868 596115 or email david@exclusionlink.co.uk. Please note people can also be referred to this through the NHS Mental Health Services, for details of how best to do this contact Rex by email rex@exclusionlink.co.uk
Home Grown Community Garden (Growing Together)
Run by: The Bridge Community Enterprise Ltd
Area: Hastings, East Sussex TN34 3ER
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.
This gardening group for people with mental health problems, was set up thanks to Ecominds funding. The project was based at The Bridge, a new community centre with it's own fruit and vegetable garden. Volunteers play an integral part in the maintenance and development of the centre, as well as being involved in a vegetable bag scheme.
The Bridge offers opportunities for those looking to widen their experience and try working in an environment close to a real job situation. Others, who have no outdoor space and no gardening experience, have been able to learn about the benefits of growing your own fruit and vegetables organically.
The project has started a discussion about mental health with volunteers being able to interact with other users of the centre. The project's big success was a harvest festival day celebrating achievements in the garden and raising local awareness.
Interested in joining?
Read the blog http://thegreenladyhastings.blogspot.com Pick up postcards and posters from our community Centre, GP surgeries, and mental health support centres. Ask to be referred by a mental health support worker or GP. Turn up at The Bridge Community Centre Garden, Tuesdays between 10.30am and 2.30pm.
Let’s Grow
Run by: Folkestone and District Mind
Venue: Romney Marsh Visitor Centre TN28 8AY
Ecominds award amount: £19,251
Folkestone Mind Resource Centre is based in Kent. We are a charity providing services for local people who are experiencing mental distress. The Ecominds grant has enabled us to set up an exciting project at the New Romney Visitor Centre in collaboration with Kent Wildlife Trust.
At Let's Grow our members enjoy a structured and varied programme of activities. These include learning how to grow plants from seeds and cuttings, learning how to be eco-friendly, guided walks, digital photography and creative art projects. Everyone gets the chance to enjoy all the benefits of fresh air, exercise, meaningful activity and socialising while learning new skills and connecting with nature.
The project has brought people from various backgrounds together and the group works extremely well as a team. All the participants have commented that the project has enriched their lives in so many ways. I feel truly alive again.
So much better than the gym. Participant
It gives me a sense of purpose. Participant
It gives me something to get up for. Participant
Interested in joining?
Phone Folkestone and District Mind on 01303 250090, drop by, visit our website or phone Romney Marsh Visitor Centre on 01797 369487 or drop by.
Minding the Garden
Run by: Hart Voluntary Action
Area: Hart District (North Hampshire) – including the towns of Fleet, Yateley, Blackwater, Odiham, Hook GU51 4AE
Ecominds award amount: £141,872
Supporting impact award amount: £37,203
Minding the Garden is an Ecotherapy volunteer programme specifically designed for individuals living in and around Hart District, North Hampshire, who are experiencing mental health problems. The programme enables them to take a first step towards volunteering in the community while simultaneously benefiting from green exercise.
Individuals are introduced to volunteering as part of a safe, friendly team, delivering a highly valued gardening service throughout Hart to elderly residents who can no longer manage their gardens themselves.
An experienced team of staff and ‘buddy volunteers’ ensure that individuals on the programme have a positive, enjoyable experience through gardening and exercise, meeting new people and perhaps most importantly learning to feel valued within the community in which they live and to help them move on to mainstream volunteering, return to work or even take up new employment.
The project has already helped over 40 participants and carried out 2,000 volunteer hours of gardening in more than 50 gardens.
Thank you very, very much for helping so willingly to restore my rather neglected garden. It was so kind of you all to give precious time to assist in clearing the overgrown plants and weeds. It was such a happy team and the atmosphere was very friendly. I was lovely having you all there, you were great. Again thank you so much for making an elderly lady very happy.Sybil, local resident
Gives me confidence and energy to participate in other volunteering. LF, volunteer
Interested in joining?
Phone 01252 815652, email mtg@hartvolaction.org.uk or visit our website www.hartvolaction.org.uk/hartvolaction/index.html
The Orchard Shed Project
Run by: The John Townsend Trust
Area: Margate, Kent CT9 1NB
Ecominds award amount: £56,730
The Orchard Shed project is based within the school/college grounds in what was a derelict gardener’s machine shed. With the help of our volunteers and clients we have renovated an old, overgrown, almost inaccessible orchard, and opened this up and made it accessible to all.
At the project volunteers can undertake many roles including: relaxed gardening tasks such as planning areas, weeding, sowing seeds and planting a variety of vegetables, fruit and flowers. Some volunteers just come to relax in the tranquillity our secluded areas.
Since starting we have grown many vegetables, including a huge pumpkin that was cooked in the school kitchen into soup and pumpkin pie. We’ve also undertaken conservation tasks such as surveys of wildlife, pond dipping and clearance, and sensitive area renovations.
We hold regular open-by-invitation events with green activities on offer to anyone who comes along.
It’s amazing that there is such a place in the heart of Margate and [we] hope that it continues to grow and eventually has many volunteers.Sarah, local business person, visitor
Before coming to the project I wouldn’t have dreamed I would enjoy gardening, but the way it is presented here is both relaxing and good physical exercise, and I feel good after I’ve been.Joe, service user
I always feel safe and valued here.Jason, service user
Interested in joining?
To contact the project phone JTT reception on 01843 227561 text directly to Rocky van de Benderskum on 07584236556 or email orchardshed@westgate-college.org.uk.
Parks and Minds
Run by: Worthing and Arun Mind
Area: Worthing, BN13 2QG
Ecominds award amount: £148,631
Parks and Minds is a project that supports people with mental health problems by offering supported employment opportunities. Our aim is to give our volunteers and workers the opportunity to contribute to the local community through work and improve mental wellbeing by building confidence and teaching new skills.
Working in partnership with Worthing Borough Council and Continental Landscapes. Parks and Minds are giving Denton Gardens (a local municipal open space) a facelift. This three-year project will see us renovating overgrown hedges/shrubs, restoring the aged herbaceous borders and generally improving the overall appearance of the gardens.
We have also taken up the challenge of Worthing’s famous promenade, adding colour to the seafront planters from Splash Point to the Lido. Our team has replanted the large rectangular raised beds with a holm oak centrepiece which can withstand the salt wind.
Denton Gardens is a fantastic space and has seldom looked better. The sunken garden section to the north end of the park was looking decidedly worn. However, it has received a new lease of life and is a more welcoming space.Local resident
When I began I was tired all the time. After a few weeks on the project I seem to be able to work longer before I feel tired. Parks and Minds volunteer
It’s good to be working on this project with like-minded people and I enjoy working outside. Parks and Minds volunteer
Interested in joining?
For further information, please visit our website.
Restore's Community Gardens Project
Run by: Restore
Area: Oxfordshire
Ecominds award amount: £59,947
Restore is developing two community gardens led by two teams of people who have experienced mental health problems.The gardens will encourage interaction with the community. One garden is in Oxford and the other in Didcot.
Interested in joining?
For more information, please email Pat Wood.
Rural Crafts Project
Run by: Bridewell Organic Gardens
Area: Witney, Oxfordshire OX7 3EB
Ecominds award amount: £16,994
Supporting impact award amount: £16,924
For many people with a mental health problem, joining a new group or activity can be very daunting. Many people's self-confidence is so low that this can be a barrier. Our project aims to help people develop their skills and thus self-confidence to join in existing mainstream environmental volunteering programmes locally.
This project allows our service users to develop craft skills that will help them become involved with local environmental programmes and provide future employment opportunities.
We have introduced a wide range of rural crafts so that service users of all abilities have had the opportunity to learn and develop new skills.
Participants enjoy a combination of indoor and outdoor activities including crafts such as coppicing, hedge laying, pole lathe turning, hurdle making and charcoal making.
Interested in joining?
The project is currently only available to existing service users. For more information on Bridewell Organic Gardens, please visit our website.
The Wildwood Ecominds Project
Run by: Wildwood Trust
Area: Herne Bay/Canterbury CT6 7LQ
Ecominds award amount: £143,737
Wildwood Trust is a wildlife charity and visitor attraction set up in 2002 to support the wildlife of Britain, past and present, against the natural backdrop of an ancient coppiced woodland.
Wildwood Trust’s Ecominds volunteer project is providing volunteering opportunities for people with direct experience of mental problems. Volunteers work with our ranger team, and have helped tremendously with a huge range of projects around the park, from improving the woodlands for the new Bison enclosure, to setting up the pumps in the new beaver pond filtration system, and building dead-hedging by the pathways around the wood.
The volunteers have support and guidance from our Ecominds Volunteer Coordinator, gaining environmental skills, and building confidence and experience. We currently have six Ecominds volunteers per day from all walks of life, including young people on work experience from the Prince’s Trust. Volunteers come with all levels of skill, and all have had some experience of mental distress.
It’s great to see volunteers from all backgrounds working with the ranger team on different projects, and seeing them gaining confidence. Bob Salter, head of the Friends of Wildwood volunteer group
All the volunteers have been great, I’ve been surprised and pleased by how hard they have worked, and I have enjoyed passing on skills and seeing my volunteers taking on different challenges. Peter Collard, Volunteer Coordinator
Interested in joining?
To find out more about volunteering, contact Peter Collard on: 01227 712111, email ecomind@wildwoodtrust.org or see the volunteer pages on our website. You can also talk to your service provider or GP, who can help you volunteer with the scheme.
York House Community Gardens
Run by: York House Centre (Stony Stratford) and Milton Keynes Mind
Area: Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes MK11 1JQ
Ecominds award amount: £17,111
York House Community Gardens is an exciting project at the youth community and arts centre. York House is run in large by volunteers who have been struggling to tame an acre of tussocky grass and rubble at the back of their much-used community facility.
Working together, with the support of Ecominds funding, Milton Keynes Mind and York House Centre are going to regenerate this much needed land, transforming it into a fully accessible and peaceful gardening space for their clients to work and rest in.
Part of this regeneration will see the introduction of wheelchair-friendly raised beds, picnic tables, water supply, tools for ongoing maintenance, alongside a qualified supervisor.
The remaining ground will be divided into plots and allocated to local community groups who will each gain valuable space for cultivation of fruit, vegetables and cut flowers, while sharing the responsibility of ensuring that rubble and thistles remain a thing of the past.
My house overlooks the grounds at the rear of York House and it has been something of an eyesore for some time. It is wonderful to see the ground tidied and being put to good use again and wonderful to see so many smiling faces! Local resident
I am really looking forward to getting out into the open air and growing things. The chance to do some work, meet some new people and hopefully see the change in the gardens is great. MK Mind client
Interested in joining?
If your community group is interested in joining the waiting list for a plot at York House Community Garden please phone 01908 563361 or email admin@york-house-centre.co.uk or look for further details on our website www.york-house.org.uk
For further information about Milton Keynes Mind’s involvement, please phone (01908) 678540 or email info@mkmind.org.uk or visit www.mkmind.org.uk or our Facebook page www.facebook.com/miltonkeynesmind