STORY: Green Community Hubs – Steve
As a one-to-one outreach support worker, Steve has spent over six months attending the Groundwork Green Community Hub at the Lady Pit Lane Allotments, a place he finds perfect for both himself and the individuals he supports.
With seven years dedicated to adult social care, he finds the sessions enjoyable and values the opportunity to understand how people work. Steve’s role is centred on encouraging participants and adapting activities to suit each individual’s needs.
He enjoys gardening and uses his experience to get involved with everyone. He has been part of workshops on tree grafting and willow weaving and helped participants with projects like making a water-saving butt and visiting another Hub to share their new skills.
He finds the Hub ‘incredible’ and believes it’s a vital space for people to be outdoors and in touch with nature, particularly in a built-up area.
Speaking of his involvement, Steve said:
“I love being outdoors; it’s good for my wellbeing and mental health. I do a lot of walking and wild camping. I just like being out and about.
“I enjoy just being around these individuals and trying to encourage them. If you have a little bit of experience with gardening then it certainly helps out, and although I’m only supporting one individual, if you get involved with everybody you can encourage them and suggest things.
“It’s very open and very easy going, and you can always adapt an activity to each individual; that’s what I’m here for as a support worker.”
For Steve, the allotment’s benefits extend far beyond just growing things:
There’s so much you can actually learn being on an allotment: they’re learning about nature and how to protect the environment, how to sustain through growing things like vegetables, and it’s allowing people to be outdoors and in touch with nature, especially in such a built-up area.
Everybody’s got their own responsibility. You never hear any arguing – just people laughing and getting on with the work – so I think it’s incredible for them, I really do.