Improving mental health
/ June 2026Back in February this year, we awarded funding to Mindscapes. They are a mental health peer support charity based in Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire. They utilise their lived experience, training, creativity and mindfulness approach to photography to support individuals in empowering themselves to thrive.
The grant that we awarded was able to provide transportation to their wellbeing retreat sessions. They took a group of 14 individuals at a time to experience and take part in the session. They did some forest bathing, meditation, breathe work, mindfulness photography and art for wellbeing.
Each session starts with a welcome and a cup of tea, progressing to breathe work to begin the process of bringing some inner peace. This moves on to short meditation, before progressing to a mindfulness walk through the gardens leading to the forest bathing. This is followed by a break for lunch and then time to explore and take part in some mindfulness photography to finish of the session.
The session starts 11am to 2pm with the transport running from 10.30am to 2.30pm. Individuals leave feeling refreshed and mentally rejuvenated. Mindscapes reported to us that the grant has made the wellbeing retreat sessions more accessible and allowed individuals to connect with others, form friendships and widen their support networks.