Dig Deeper has been successful in its application for £10,000 funding from The National Lotteries ‘Awards for All’. Dig Deeper is a community-based group run by Acorn that enables people to access support, make friends and give them a sense of belonging.
The Dig Deeper allotment group provides the homegrown ingredients for Acorn’s Community Cookery Group. Users of this group learn to cook a family meal on a budget and reduce the use of processed foods.
The project was an idea created by Acorn Staff within Community Mental Health Teams in September 2021, after discovering the lack of community groups in Fleetwood where those with a mental health illness felt they belonged.
Acorn provides 18 Peer Support Workers within Community Mental Health Teams across the Fylde Coast. The Peer Support Workers support people referred to CMHT’s with the intention to improve engagement, overcome barriers using their own lived experience of mental health issues.
Organisations within the Fleetwood community collaborate to encourage people to attend community groups. Every few months, Dig Deeper arranges a coffee morning and invites all groups in the area to recognise the benefits of all groups in the area.
Dig Deeper have secured a site in Blackpool and are currently looking at suitable locations within the Lytham area to expand the community group.
Sara Clarke, Senior Peer Support Worker Fylde and Wyre for CMHT; ‘The community around the group is underprivileged and due to this we have a lot of users with social isolation. In the current climate, services like the allotment group are becoming increasingly important. That’s why our groups are donation based and activities are free, so those that are unable to contribute are aware they are still very welcome.’
