Redhall Walled Garden
Service Type: Employment & Learning
Service Profile
Redhall Walled Garden is a beautiful 18th Century Walled Garden within a 6 acre estate where SAMH offers training in horticulture, conservation, maintenance skills, ITC/admin and life skills for people with mental health problems.
The service can support up to 55 service users from within Edinburgh City at any given time.
Working at Redhall Walled Garden
I have worked at SAMH's Redhall Walled Garden for about 18 years.
I arrive at Redhall around 8a.m. and allow myself a few minutes to take in the really stunning beauty of the estate and enjoy the different faces it wears depending on the weather- all are amazing. Driving of the main road and down the drive through the green leafy lane I find myself breathing deeper and beginning to sink into the day.
At 8.30a.m. I spend the first hour of the day preparing for the days activities with the staff team, answering calls usually from trainees who are struggling with fear and feeling anxious about coming in and needing a bit of reassurance.
At 9.30 our working day begins and people either go to work in the garden or in the office where trainees are responsible for the general administration of the site, e.g. producing all of our publicity and training materials.
I often spend this first session interviewing people who are visiting Redhall for the first time and I like to take this opportunity to get to know them a bit more –I get to meet hundreds of really interesting people! Next I am often working on the Redhall budget, answering dozens of emails either from SAMH, other agencies or the general public.
We have lunch, usually in the garden, between 1pm and 1.45pm and gorge on fresh tomatoes, strawberries and what ever else is growing! Then the staff team look at the attendance record and follow up anyone who has not made it in that day and check that they are ok.
By the afternoon the garden is much busier and often there are people who want to talk to me about various things that are going on in their lives and time seems to just slip away!
At 3.30pm the trainees are finished for the day and the staff catch up on the day and pass on to each other anything we need to know and make plans for supporting people.
4.15 sees the end of my working day except of course the inevitable last minute phone call with someone wanting to know if we sell compost/ can they come their group come for a visit/ can I do a workshop at their conference etc.
I work in a truly amazing place with a group of courageous and interesting people and feel very privileged to be part of it all.
Jan Cameron,
Redhall Walled Garden
My story
The biggest surprise of all was that I would genuinely be working in the garden. That came as a shock. I had seen many services for mental health and most were ‘token’ services where you went, but actually didn’t do much.
I was given dungarees and boots and for the first time since I was ill, I had a sense that I was able to do something and a little spark of hope ignited.
Redhall isn’t a life placement, it’s a place where you can stop and rest and gather yourself again, learn some skills, appreciate nature, learn that you are still part of the human race and best of all gain ways of coping and nurturing yourself.
Service User,
Redhall Walled Garden
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