The Askefield Project
So the idea was there, where to go from here??
After one or two false starts, including us piling all our savings into starting to build a toilet block then running out of money and leaving it with no roof for an entire winter (I wouldn’t recommend it!), the NHS came up trumps and we got funding for 12 months. We knew we needed to prove what we could do first before we looked for serious funding so we bit the bullet and opened on Mental Health Awareness day, 17 October 2017. Seemed like an appropriate way to start!
We took on Anna to help us and she was a wonderful addition to the team! In the first year, we had 58 clients attend over the two days per week and after we received more funding for another 12 months, we welcomed an average of 15 clients per day! Not bad from a standing start!
We also worked with Humberside Police and had young people who had suffered abuse for a weekend camping and learning about animals and outdoor life (some took to it better than others!). We began to make links with other organisations and had referrals from all over the area. We were going great guns! Then came the next nail biting round of funding……
The issue with the sector we are in is that everyone wants the service, but is not prepared to pay for it. This is a universal issue, but the rurality of Lincolnshire, whilst a bonus in many respects, is a real barrier. I do understand that there is only a finite amount of money available for mental health, but it does seem to be distributed in a very short sighted fashion and this situation has not improved since then; in fact I think Covid has exacerbated it. Much of the funding in this area was annual and no project could be repeated, meaning that if you ran a successful project and reached your dreaded targets by the end of the year (yay!), the next round of funding meant you had to think of another idea and start from scratch. Not ideal and even less so when you are dealing with the very real issue of people’s mental health.
So after two successful years of helping people and a good reputation behind us, we lost our funding for the Care Farm. The first of many setbacks!