Charity

I was 16 when I was homeless and, despite securing a permanent home, the belief that I was damaged goods escalated to numerous failed relationships, cocaine, and alcohol. That all changed when I was introduced to a book by Sydney Banks called “The Enlightened Gardener”. Within three hours I was sobbing and felt a wave of relief wash over me. I couldn’t tell you what it was that I read but ‘something’ triggered deep inside and I saw for the first time that I wasn’t broken.

From then, my life has changed in ways I never dreamt was possible and I started to share my story. Whilst volunteering with a Homeless Charity on a bitterly cold night in 2017, I watched a man walk away from our conversation towards his home on the streets and as he turned around, he smiled and said: “keep spreading the good word”.

I saw at that moment that I could help others by sharing what had transformed my life as well as so many others I had seen through The Modello Housing Project and in HMP Onley with Beyond Recovery, to name a couple.

The first 18 months of this journey were tough and there was a lot of resistance which was disheartening yet a gift/sign would always show up to silently encourage me to keep persevering.

Eventually, in September 2018, we were able to independently deliver our first course in Watford – This was also our “test” research carried out by Three Principles Research and Consulting, and the results were really encouraging.

Introduction to Watford & Three Rivers Trust

So – picture the scene.  There’s a course running in one of your venues where the individuals are sleeping on the streets and in hostels, and they are showing up happier each week.

Bob Jones (CEO of Watford & Three Rivers Trust) was curious about what we were doing so asked for a meeting with me and that’s when our conversations began.  For nearly a year Bob held my hand and guided me to a space where we could establish and deliver our services in partnership with W3RT, which took effect in September 2019.

Unfortunately, in March 2020, Covid-19 descended upon us and our courses had to move online which proved difficult for all of our participants to join our weekly online dropping sessions. We patiently waited to see what would unfold.

Coventry University Research Centre & NHS 

A lightbulb moment from our onsite researcher led to a meeting with Coventry University.  The outcome?  We’re independently evaluated by Coventry University, Ethics approved.  As such, there is an expectation that the findings will contribute to a long-term impact on the implementation and development of a research-based framework within the mental health arena.

In August 2020 we received funding from the NHS for a pilot programme in Watford working with people who were experiencing poor mental health as a result of homelessness or Covid-19.  The outcome? WAS GREAT and we are now endorsed by NHS Herts Valleys Clinical Commissioning Group.

The Present 

We are of service to those struggling with their mental health in our community who are Unemployed, or on Universal Credit using The Three Principles approach and achieving amazing outcomes.

Our services include 24 hours group SPAs, one-to-one support, and an online support group upon completion of our SPAs – free of charge. (We call them SPAs as our participants tell us that they experience the same feelings after each of our sessions).