Cardiff & Vale Health Charity has recently been awarded funding from NHS Charities Together to enhance and develop the Grow Well Project to benefit patients experiencing mental health, physical health and social isolation.
The Grow Well Project is a community gardening project run in partnership with local charity Grow Cardiff and the South West (SW) Cardiff Primary Care cluster.
The aim of the Grow Well project is to work as equal partners with patient volunteers, health professionals and community services to develop therapeutic community growing spaces which support the health and wellbeing of local people experiencing mental health, physical health and social isolation: people and nature thriving together.
The project has three sites, one at Lansdowne Surgery on Sanitorium Road, Cardiff, which has been running since 2016, a second at the Dusty Forge community centre in Ely, developed in partnership with local charity Action in Caerau and Ely (ACE) and is just about to commence work at Riverside Health Centre on Wellington Street, Riverside.
The project’s aim is to engage with patients from the 10 surgeries in the SW Primary Care cluster who have health and wellbeing issues or who are experiencing loneliness and social isolation, using community gardening as a tool to support, nurture and bring holistic healing through co-producing edible and wildlife-friendly community gardens in welcoming, safe spaces.
During the Grow Well sessions, patient volunteers engage in a range of ‘hands-on’ experiences which are based on their collective ideas and interests which are then developed to enhance the community gardens.
These ‘hands-on’ experiences include ‘horticultural skills (growing plants, harvesting fruit, vegetables and herbs), carpentry skills (building raised beds, large garden shelter), encouraging wildlife, arts and crafts and cooking with garden produce. The project works alongside primary care staff and GP surgeries in the area and runs every Monday and Wednesday from 12:30pm-3:30pm.
On reviewing the application for funding, the NHS Charities Together Grants Advisory and Awarding Panel commented on the application as being ‘quite inspirational’ and a member of their Board of Trustees expressed an interest in funding similar projects at Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation.
A project participant said: “In here, I feel safe. I trust the people here. I found I’ve got a new community, so in some ways, it’s a bit like being with family. I feel very happy here and my confidence has changed tremendously.”
The NHS Charities Together funding will strengthen support, provide specialist knowledge and skills for the project to thrive, and provide equipment and materials to develop the three Grow Well gardens at Lansdowne Surgery, the Dusty Forge Community Centre and Riverside Health Centre.
Isla Horton, Director of Grow Cardiff said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be working in partnership with Cardiff & Vale Health Charity. We’re really excited to develop the project with patient volunteers over the next two years and to see the real difference it makes to local peoples’ lives.”
Dr Karen Pardy said: “As a GP and Community Director of the cluster, I have seen the benefits of the project in supporting patients who are suffering with social isolation and other psychosocial problems. I have seen patients who have struggled for many years, thrive in the supportive environment of the Grow Well garden.”
To find out more about Grow Well Cardiff please visit: www.growcardiff.org/the-grow-well-project or watch this short film about the project:
To refer a patient or make a self-referral, contact Claire Terry, Grow Well Project Co-ordinator on: claire@growcardiff.org or call: 07555 450456.
To find out more about Cardiff & Vale Health Charity please visit: www.healthcharity.wales