25 November 2009
Putting Down Roots (PDR), a gardening project run by St Mungo's, London's largest charity for homeless men and women, has been awarded £148,142 by grant scheme Ecominds.
The project is open to people who are currently homeless, have been in the past or are at risk of becoming homeless. It provides a safe vehicle for recovery through therapeutic gardening activity.
PDR volunteers maintain and develop public and community gardens and hostel grounds across London and grow vegetables organically at an allotment. Along with general gardening there are opportunities for hard landscaping and building work and to undertake accredited horticulture training. This year, volunteers also helped create the silver medal winning showpiece garden - The Key Garden - at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Mental health charity Mind, who is allocating the £7.5 million of Big Lottery funding, recognised the huge success and potential of the project and provided the grant to enable a specific focus on mental health support over the next three years. In its 40th year, St Mungo's is focusing on breaking the links between mental ill health and homelessness with a £1 million Mental Health campaign and Call for Evidence to be published next month.
Fiona Finn, Putting Down Roots Project Co-ordinator, says: "We are absolutely delighted to have been awarded this Ecominds grant. Many people who volunteer with us have mental health problems. We plan to employ a therapeutic gardener who will work directly with them alongside providing specialist advice to the rest of the staff team. We will also be looking to form partnerships with more community and public gardens."
One St Mungo's client said of the scheme: "People are engaged, they are doing a day's work. They are tired at night; they feel they have done something, gained a feeling of empowerment. It's beautiful and it's highly addictive!"
Putting Down Roots has been running for nearly ten years and has a proven track record of helping people feel more confident in themselves, develop social networks and engage in the wider community. As part of St Mungo's Work and Learning Services, the project also works hard to motivate its volunteers to move onto further training and develop skills to equip them for employment. One former volunteer now runs a community garden and another has set himself up in self-employment.
Barry Watts, Grants Manager of Ecominds said "What we liked about this project was that we could see how it would directly benefit the future of people with mental health problems, teaching skills and providing a vital support network. It will be great to follow the progress of this project and watch the funding be put to very good use in the community."
Ecominds is helping thousands of people across the country to improve their mental wellbeing by encouraging them to get outdoors and get active. Research by Mind has found that this type of ecotherapy can be highly beneficial to people with mental health problems. In a recent study, after just one country walk, 90 per cent of participants had increased self-esteem and 7 per cent reported decreased feelings of depression.
Notes to editors
- For further information, contact Gemma Hollingshead, Media Officer on 020 8762 5570 or email gemma.hollingshead@mungos.org
- St Mungo's helps homeless people to overcome barriers to employment through education, vocational training, help with finding a job and engaging in meaningful activities. In the last 12 months our work and learning services assisted 2,331 clients in areas such as finding employment, training, further education and meaningfully occupying their time. In the last 12 months, St Mungo's helped 120 people into work, 700 into training, and 705 people took part in activities
- Training, Open College Network (OCN) and Construction Skills Certificate Scheme (CSCS) accreditation is provided on different aspects of horticulture for PDR volunteers
- St Mungos' virtual gifts catalogue is now online at www.mungos.org/shop where you can buy a gardening toolkit to give homeless people the tools to join Putting Down Roots
- Ecominds is a new funding scheme administered by the mental health charity Mind. It has a total of £7.5 million to distribute to about 120 new and existing projects. Any group or organisation based in England and working on a not-for-profit basis can apply. To request an application pack telephone 0845 367 1671, visit the website at www.ecominds.org.uk or write to Ecominds, 15-19 Broadway, Stratford, London E15 4BQ.
- The Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme was launched in November 2005 to help communities enjoy and improve their local environments. The programme is funding a range of activities from local food schemes and farmers markets, to education projects teaching people about the environment. Mind was awarded £8.8 million as a Changing Spaces award partner, to run its Ecominds scheme. Full details of the work of the Big Lottery Fund, its programmes and awards are available on the website: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk