A national directory of recovery focused resources for managing health and well-being. Designed as a toolkit for people that need help and support with a range of work and social care issues.
Agriculture & Horticulture
How can I learn about healthy foods and food growing projects?
- Sustain is an alliance of many organisations working to improve the health and welfare of people and animals through better food and farming practices. This portal offers a spectrum of food-health campaigns and projects including Food and Mental Health.
Where can I find info about community farms and gardens across the UK?
- Federation of City Farms & Community Gardens provides tools to help you quickly find a city farm or community garden in your area.
Where can I connect with community gardening and environmental projects?
- Project Dirt is an active community of people connecting their environmental projects, knowledge and skills. Making it easy to locate horticultural activities and green networks in your area.
Where can I learn about horticulture and prepare myself for employment?
- Trees for Cities is an independent charity for urban tree planting and greening initiatives. Offering training and qualifications in horticulture for the unemployed and people with direct experience of mental distress.
Where can I learn about designing natural and sustainable food growing systems?
- The Permaculture Association provides information and training about the theory and practice of permaculture, an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies. Ideal for small home growing projects and larger community gardens.
Charity Organisations
How can I find charity organisations in my area?
- GuideStar UK is a user-friendly search engine providing free and open access to information on all charities registered in England and Wales. Enter a location name or postcode to search for charity organizations in that area.
Where can I find a list of local charity shops?
- Charity Retail Association allows you to search for charity shops by town or postcode. There’s also a directory of useful links to related agencies and support services.
Citizen Concerns
How can I find information about crime and policing in my area?
- Police.uk provides instant access to street-level crime maps and data, as well as details of your local policing team and beat meetings.
Where can I get tools for local government and democracy issues?
- mySociety enables users to connect with local government and community information projects. You can use the online tools to follow your MP and contact elected representatives, join democracy clubs, make and view Freedom of Information requests, report problems in your street, and much more.
Where can I find data on poverty and social exclusion in the UK?
- The Poverty Site monitors all aspects of poverty and social exclusion from income and work to health and education. The links section features a range of interesting data sources.
Where can I get advice about my legal rights and responsibilities?
- Citizens Advice is a service helping people resolve problems concerning debt, benefits and tax credits, employment, housing, relationships and family.
Health Matters
How can I find mental health services in my area?
- NHS Choices has a search tool for finding and choosing services by postcode, location or name.
Where can I learn about beneficial plants for health and well being?
- Plant Medicine is a guide and database providing information on natural remedies.
Where can I compare health conditions and treatments with other patients?
- CureTogether provides free tools to help you manage your health. Patients and researchers share information on hundreds of medical conditions to discover which treatments work best.
- PatientsLikeMe allows you to share your experiences with treatments, find patients just like you, and learn from others who know.
Who provides a good source of UK focused health advice?
- Patient UK provides good quality info for non-medical people about health and disease. It features a web directory and a wide range of information leaflets, including a category for mental health.
Helping One Another
How can I find helplines in the UK or Ireland?
- The Helplines Association allows you to search or browse a directory of more than 1,000 helplines across the UK and Ireland.
How can I share things with people in my local community?
- Streetbank is a site that helps you share and borrow things from your neighbours, such as skills and physical items.
Homelessness
Who provides support and training for single homeless people?
- Crisis is the national charity for single homeless people, providing a range of free education, employment, housing and well-being services.
Who publishes information for and about homeless people?
- The Big Issue is a magazine, a social business and a charity, helping homeless people to help themselves.
- The Pavement magazine is a free monthly publication providing news and information for the UK’s rough sleepers and homeless people. It features a directory called The List which is a regularly updated directory of homeless services.
Hope and Inspiration
Where can I find good news?
- DailyGood is a charity portal and daily newsletter promoting positive and uplifting news from around the world. See also CharityFocus
- GOODFinder is a community tool and collection for all things inspirational, thought-provoking and potentially empowering.
Money Matters
Where can I find information about financial matters?
- Money Advice Trust provides access to information relating to money, credit, and debt.
Where can I get advice on how to deal with debt problems?
The following resources provide FREEPHONE helplines.
- National Debtline offers confidential advice and independent support for people with debt problems.
- Payplan provides free debt solutions, including debt management plans and Individual Voluntary Arrangements or IVAs.
- StepChange provides free debt help and advice services to people who are looking to resolve their financial issues.
Outdoors Activities
How can I find woodlands that are open to the public?
- VisitWoods has information on around 14000 woods you’re welcome to visit. You can use the search engine to find out about woods in your area, plus there’s information about activities you can do or things you may need to take on your visit. You can also upload your images of woods to share with the community.
Where can I find info about walking routes for ramblers?
- Get Walking Keep Walking offers local programmes for walks and recommended routes to follow.
- Walking for Health lists over 600 local schemes and features a WalkFinder search tool for finding health walks in your area by entering your postcode.
People Power
How can I make a difference and effect change on the big issues facing society in the UK?
- 38 Degrees provides simple and effective tools that allow you to join other people taking action to bring about real change on the issues that matter most. You can suggest ideas for campaigns and get feedback from other members.
- Change.org is an online petition platform that makes it possible for anyone to start a campaign and mobilize support for their causes.
Voluntary Work
How can I find suitable voluntary work positions?
- Do-it allows you to search a database of volunteering opportunities and apply online for work with voluntary organisations.
Who provides support and advice for volunteering?
- TimeBank offers free help to anyone wanting to volunteer in the UK.
Work and Wellness
Where can I get help with employability and career development?
- CareerBuilder is the largest online job site in the UK, it offers job search advice, employability tips, and social media strategies for marketing yourself to prospective employers. Find articles for practical advice and tips via Twitter @CareerBuilder
- RezScore - A free web-based service that lets you upload your CV/Resume for graded analysis with advice for improvements. The blog also provides tips and news of employment trends. Twitter @RezScore
- Work and Mental Health - An information resource for workers, employers, clinicians and carers. Informs on the key issues and provides links to more detailed guidance.
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