Sydenham Garden’s adult mental health and dementia project groups
We run therapeutic groups in Art & Craft, Garden, Growing Lives, Practical Organic Gardening and Sow & Grow. These groups accept all adults aged 18+ who are referred due to their mental health problems, or early-mid stage dementia, who pose no or low risk to others. Group members may also be experiencing physical health problems. We accept referrals for people with a wide range of mental health experiences, ranging from mild to more serious.
Sydenham Garden’s groups for specific groups of people
African Caribbean group
This group is for people with African and/or Caribbean heritage, the majority of whom have black ethnicity. People with Black African, Black Caribbean and Black Other ethnicity make up nearly 30% of the Lewisham population. Black people have historically and currently experience racism and discrimination. In the UK, Black people experience significant structural inequalities in many areas, such as education, economic activity and healthcare, including mental health care.
This group enables co-workers to speak about their mental health experiences with co-workers, staff and volunteers who have some shared experiences of cultural background and experiences of systemic inequalities. This increases access to our mental health services for people with African or Caribbean heritage, which is important given their underrepresentation in early-intervention statutory mental health services.
m.u.d (for young people aged 18-25)
This group is for young people aged 18-25. We developed this project as we identified that young people were underrepresented in our adult mental health groups and may benefit from a demographic-specific group. Following the pandemic, research found that Covid had a significant impact on the mental health of young people, causing loneliness and isolation, disruption of education, and mental health support in schools, disruption to economy and employment opportunities and disruption at a transitional life point.
m.u.d groups enable young people to benefit from giving and receiving peer support in a group with people of a similar age and life stage as themselves.
Women’s groups in Art & Craft and Garden
We currently run one of our Garden and one of our Art & Craft groups as women’s groups. At Sydenham Garden we are committed to supporting all women, which firmly includes transgender women, non-binary people and people who identify as gender non-conforming, who feel that women’s groups best suit their needs and life experience.
The women’s groups were started due to feedback from co-workers in the groups who valued the opportunity to participate in their therapeutic placement alongside other women. Sydenham Garden referrers also highlighted the need for these groups for the women they refer. Women may have shared life experiences related to being a woman such as discrimination, harassment or violence and benefit from being in a women-only group.
