A local community project supporting teens facing SEMH challenges
About
The Green Hub is a not-for-profit community group which helps teens with mild to moderate anxiety issues. It promotes mental wellbeing in teenagers. At The Green Hub, teenagers can become volunteers and work in the garden alongside experienced adult volunteers. The goal is to get them working together in a calm safe space, allowing the teenagers to step out of the pressures of normal daily life. is a privately run charity. They completely rely on the generosity of others to provide children the space to enjoy activities and to interact with their peers in a relaxing fun environment. They provide activities each week including sports and crafts. Although the Green Hub can not provide medical care, it does provide a safe haven of peace and calm where anxious teenagers can go. Working outside in nature is proven to raise levels of ‘happiness hormones’ and these teenagers can be part of a worthwhile project which, in turn, gives them a sense of achievement. Many of the adult volunteers already work with teenagers in some capacity. They are on hand to provide gardening advice and, when needed, non-judgmental, compassionate listening. Being outside in such a lovely environment is therapy in itself and the beautiful walled garden where they work always has lots to offer. Besides growing flowers there are vegetable beds, fruit trees and even a well-established vine growing along one wall. Whether the teens that attend The Green Hub want to learn gardening, prefer to find out how to grow vegetables, work on a landscaping project or just sit and be present, doesn’t matter. Being outside, away from their technology and worries is the important thing. Engaging with nature benefits human health and wellbeing. Walking in nature, gardening, sitting on a park bench and even watching nature through a window have all been shown to be beneficial, helping reduce stress and anxiety, improve cognitive functioning, build self-esteem and confidence and improve physical health.
Help Needed
There are a number of opportunities to volunteer at The Green Hub. If you have an interest in working with teenagers, mental health or gardening (or all three!) they would be keen to hear from you. Garden Leader volunteers need to have a good knowledge of horticulture. They are supported by one or two adult Garden Assistants, who need to be interested in gardening (though not necessarily super experienced) as well as keen to help teens. Volunteers are not expected to counsel or advise teens but they’ll definitely need to have a real interest in young people, as well as lots of empathy. Sessions are currently on Saturday and Thursday mornings, although volunteers aren’t asked to attend every week. However, volunteers are asked to commit to approximately two sessions per month, although they do understand that holiday and work commitments mean that this isn’t always possible. Of course, spending time in the garden with our teenage volunteers is super important but there are other roles too. Garden Co-ordinators and Managers do all the planning and preparation ahead of sessions. If you have time mid week to help plan craft projects, plan some of the garden activities or support the overall running of the project, The Green Hub would also love to hear from you. And there are a wide range of volunteer roles that fit under a ‘marketing’ banner along with other administration and operational roles. Ideally these volunteers need to be able to offer 2 to 4 hours a week, be IT literate and well organised. All roles are working from home to own timescales / availability. For further information about The Green Hub and the work that they do, please visit their website at https://greenhub.org.uk/
The Green Hub
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Category.
Environment, Mental health
Charity No.
Contact No.
Email.
Address.
Green Hub Project for Teens, Luck’s Yard Clinic, Portsmouth Road, Milford, Surrey, GU8 5HZ
