Shaw Trust launches new Basingstoke green fingered therapy

Growing Links, a new therapy for local people with experience of mild mental health conditions, was recently launched in Basingstoke.

In July, Shaw Trust, the employment charity for disabled and disadvantaged people, unveiled its latest project at Silvester Close Allotments, Oakridge. A second project will run at Elizabeth Road allotments, South Ham.

Shaw Trust Development Officer Sara Purkins says: “We are already a well established provider of vocational horticultural training in Basingstoke through our highly successful Artisan project, which has run for the past 14 years.

“Now we can also help people with recognised mental health issues who are being treated by their GPs.

“There is tremendous therapeutic value in this kind of work. Our clients get plenty of fresh air and enjoy the benefits of physical activity. They also learn new skills and meet new people.

“It is so rewarding to see what you have planted growing, and to eventually harvest and eat fruit and vegetables which are wholesome and healthy. It all adds-up to an enriching, positive experience that is hard to beat, and what’s more it is environmentally sound. ”

Shaw Trust has secured funding for Growing Links for the next three years from the mental health charity Mind under its Ecominds scheme, and from National Lottery’s Big Lottery Fund.

It is hoped to eventually provide vegetable boxes for sale, which will reinforce the sustainable aspects of the project.

For more information on Shaw Trust, visit our website or call 01225 716300

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NOTES TO EDITORS:

1. Shaw Trust is a national charity, formed in 1982, which helps people with disability or disadvantage to find work and achieve independence. We do this not only by delivering government programmes, but also through our own self-funded initiatives, and by campaigning to change attitudes at all levels. Across the UK more than 1,600 staff now oversee a diverse range of more than 200 projects.

2. If you would like to support the work that Shaw Trust does to help disabled and disadvantaged people find work and achieve independence please visit our website
3. The Skills Development and Mentoring programmes are funded by LSC and the European Union.

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