Care Farming in Northumberland

1. Care Farming in Northumberland Steve Bailey National Management Trainee Northumberland County Council steve.bailey@northumberland.gov.uk

2. What is Care Farming? • A form of diversification for farmers and their families. • Care farms help promote mental as well as physical health and wellbeing. Care farmers work with a wide variety of clients from young people with additional educational needs, young offenders, to those recovering from addiction or mental health problems. • By performing tasks such as looking after animals or tending vegetables, care farms help people to reconnect with nature and their communities which in turn offers them a pathway towards recovery, progression and social inclusion. • Care farms also offer the opportunity to develop a wide range of technical and life skills which can improve employability.

3. • Growing Well grows organic produce (to field scale) and delivers accredited training in horticulture. It actively encourages participation by the local community through membership, educational visits and courses. What is special about this care farm There is a symbiotic relationship between Growing Well and the farm tenants. Growing Well sells its produce to the farm shop, and it benefits from the increased profile brought about by Growing Well’s social activities. Growing Well does not provide horticultural therapy, stresses Beren, the manager. “We are run as a business, and being involved – being outdoors, seeing things grow and eating the produce – is what people benefit from.” As part of its work with the wider community, Growing Well offers training and NVQs in horticulture to the whole community, not just its students. Target market Growing Well provides opportunities for people recovering from mental health problems to develop their confidence and skills by volunteering within a thriving business. Volunteers attend the farm for between one half day and three days per week, and some stay two or three years (there is no finite period Growing Well provides around 2000 placements each year (there is capacity for 2500) to around 50 volunteers, two-thirds of whom are male. Those with secondary mental health needs (50% of volunteers) are paid for by Cumbria’s Social Services. But there is an open door policy, with nobody turned away, and those with more severe needs (50%) have to be funded by a grant from a charitable trust. Approach - aim, he explains, is to provide people with a bridge between being cared for in a medical environment and a job where they won’t get any special treatment. In his view Growing Well provides a work environment that gives people the opportunity to develop their self-confidence by taking on responsibilities and participating in a team. Benefits – All the volunteers report significant gains in confidence and self-esteem, says Beren. “By working here, in a structured way, it increases their confidence to meet people generally; and by taking on responsibilities here they take on tasks in their home life.” One of the first volunteers, Duncan, explains how Growing Well helped him: “Long term depression led me to withdraw from work and society,” he says. “But coming here helped massively…being part of an organisation, getting my hands dirty and seeing things grow has re-built my self-confidence and enabled me to find work again.” Case StudyGrowing Well, Cumbria GW grows organic produce and delivers accredited training in horticulture. It provides opportunities for people recovering from mental health problems to develop their confidence and skills by volunteering within a thriving business. Placements: volunteers attend the farm for between one half day and three days per week, and some stay two or three years. Aim: to provide people with a bridge between being cared for in a medical environment and a job where they won’t get any special treatment. Growing Well provides a work environment that gives people the opportunity to develop their self-confidence by taking on responsibilities and participating in a team. Outcomes: Duncan one of GW early volunteers, explains how the service helped him: “Long term depression led me to withdraw from work and society,” he says. “But coming here helped massively…being part of an organisation, getting my hands dirty and seeing things grow has re-built my self confidence and enabled me to find work again.”

4. Case Study Clinks Care Farm, Norfolk The care farm is open four days per week. It takes groups of seven or eight at a time and offers free taster days to those who want. Two days cater for a mixed group of people – everyone from disadvantaged young people to those with dementia. The care farm provides opportunities in three areas: around small animal care, horticulture and environmental work. Two of the days cater specifically for a new ‘Farming on Prescription’ project, under which people with mental health issues in primary care come one day per week for 12 weeks.This project has one year’s funding from the Department of Health’s Innovation Fund (East of England), and it funds three part-time staff, two of whom are former service users. Another group, called the ‘Great Outdoors Project’, attends one day per month and is funded by the NHS Norfolk. It provides opportunities for unpaid carers to get some respite/‘me time’, and to learn new skills, in a healthy environment.

5. Providers in the North East Kindstream Ltd Bill Quay Community Farm

6. Care Farming at Present • There are a variety of issues with the current provision of Care Farming activities in the Northumberland. • These include: • Placements are often provided on an ad hoc basis • Farmers are often not adequately compensated for their time and expertise. • Smaller providers have identified difficulties in engaging with service commissioners and feel at times they lose out on clients to other providers. They have also suggested that this causes them to often operate significantly below their maximum capacity. • Clear guidance outlining how to obtaining funding, meet Health & Safety and safeguarding requirements is often hard to find. This means ensuring that farms meet all the legal requirements is often a labour intensive process.

7. Working in Partnership Young People and Adults with additional Needs Farming and Rural Enterprises Assessment and individualised learning in the local community Management of Placements and funding arrangements Kirkley Hall, Northumberland College Access to a range of rural skills options for training and progression into employment Access to specialist training & support networks Strategic Development & Partnership Arrangement Quality Assurance Education, Health & Social Care Funders

8. Moving Forward • In order to progress the provision of Care farming activities in the North East the following suggestions have been put forward • Engage with the farming community to promote the concept • Increase the number of placements offered in the North East through the development of a robust system of referrals. • Develop systems to ensure quality of service, health and safety, safe guarding etc. are all effectively monitored. • Explore the possibility of fixed prices for placements according to the clients level of need. • Work with the regions Universities to conduct research into the benefits of Care Farming to build the evidence base to quantify the impact that CF activities have on clients

9. Care Farming in Northumberland Conference Where? Kirkley Hall, Northumberland College. When? 1st June 2012 from 9:45- 3:00PM. Why? To facilitate the development of networks between key stakeholders including current providers of Care farming activities, Commissioning agents and potential care farmers. If you have any questions about Care Farming or you would be interested in attending the conference please email me: steve.bailey@northumberland.gov.uk