A project helping Caerphilly people with mental health problems to get back into work has been awarded £20,000.
Charity Growing Space received the grant from The Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) Wales to carry out a pilot scheme to help people towards a range of qualifications in horticulture, IT and woodworking.
“The participants have a range of backgrounds and working experiences, from dock workers to accountants and teachers,” said Growing Space Director Bill Upham.
“What they all share is a mental health condition, and a commitment to return to training and employment in the long term, and play a valuable role in society.”
The charity helps people with conditions including bi-polar and schizophrenia, showing them how to tend to allotments, grow fresh fruit and vegetables and provide gardening services in the local community.
Two of Growing Space’s Caerphilly trainees recently saw their work recognised when a show garden they designed for Abergavenny’s Border Sundials display stand at Chelsea Flower Show achieved a merit in the Best Stand category of the competition. Declan McCabe, 45 from Newport, and Elspeth Samuel, 49, from Risca, helped draw up plans for the stand, grow the flowers and put it all together.
The £20,000 CRT award will cover the costs of implementing the pilot project, as well as monitoring and evaluation costs.
In Caerphilly, the Growing Space Trainee’s have also created a new allotment at Risca, which will now provide the facility to train up to 25 people at one time in horticultural skills.
The charity, established in 1992, is currently in talks with Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council to find a site to base itself to start the next stage of its programme.
Coalfields Regeneration Trust Wales Operations Manager Siân Sykes said: “Mental health issues often lead to people losing their jobs and then not having enough confidence to try to get back into the workplace.
“CRT is pleased to support Growing Space in its battle against the stigma faced by people with these problems, particularly in former coalfields areas, where unemployment levels are already higher than average.”