Many of the teams within Foundation are able to run groups where their customers can engage in various activities, from cooking to gardening, from beauty to crafts. For some teams, the groups are of a more sensitive and therapeutic nature and confidentiality is paramount. The Durham team run groups that customers can join to engage in social inclusion activities. They are able to send in regular reports and we enjoy sharing them with you.

Volunteers play a vital role in helping our teams to run activities for customers. Many of our volunteers at Foundation are customers or have been customers. We are hugely proud of all of our volunteers and thank them hugely for the support they give to others.

Here the Durham team report on their activities during National Volunteers Week last week:

During National Volunteer’s Week (1st – 7th June) customers discussed volunteering and its benefits. Some of our customers volunteer for Foundation and so they were able to discuss their experiences, the benefits of volunteering as well as how volunteering can help them fulfil their interests and achieve their goals. The purpose of this activity was for customers to consider ways to give back to the community and to make meaningful use of their time.

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Customers also took part in a session on caring for the environment. Customers received information on bees. Customers and staff discussed what effect having no bee’s would have on our environment and learned some interesting bee facts, (for example there are around 250 species of bees in the UK!) whilst eating honey on toast. This week was Foundation Durham’s first gardening group, customers planted herbs, spring onions and lettuce seeds. Customers will now be in charge of looking after the plants as they grow and will be able to take them home to use in their cooking.

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The Durham team produce a three month session plan for our group sessions, incorporating activities that the customers’ request. The talent contest next week is the last session in our current three month plan, so this week staff asked the customers what sessions they have enjoyed from the past three months, what they think worked well and what sessions they would like to do again, as well as any new ideas for future sessions. Feedback from the past group sessions was really positive and staff will use the customers’ ideas to plan future sessions.