Welcome to Growing Lives, a programme that believes in the transformative power of nature. Our beautiful one-and-a-half-acre site in the heart of Lewisham is an urban oasis, a place where people living with mental health issues can escape the stresses of the city and reconnect with nature and their communities.
Our therapeutic programme is designed to improve the mental, physical health, and overall wellbeing with our Co-workers at the very heart of everything we do. We help them learn new horticultural and transferable skills, which helps boost self-confidence and self-esteem.
At Growing Lives, we’re not just about personal growth. We’re also committed to fostering a sense of community and increasing our Co-workers’ social inclusion in the communities they live in.
We run a small social enterprise where we grow exquisite cut flowers for local florists (www.sydenhamgardenflowers.com). This not only supports the growth of our community’s businesses but also creates vocational training opportunities for our co-workers. By engaging in the cultivation and care of flowers, they gain valuable skills that can lead to increased employment opportunities.
And over the next three years we will be increasing our focus on ways to support our Co-workers to share their experiences of mental health services with organisations such as SLAM. We hope this will lead to increased access to available services.
We are dedicated to nature and sustainability. We manage the De Frene site in an environmentally friendly way, which enhances wildlife and biodiversity and improves the general amenity of the neighbourhood.
Our Project Coordinator and Support Volunteers are here to support our Co-workers every step of the way.
We are very grateful to the National Lottery Community Fund for their generous grant which will help support our Growing Lives project.
Also assisted by generous grants received from:
Supported by City Bridge Trust, the funding arm of The City of London Corporation’s charity, Bridge House Estates (1035628).
