SIG Penrose Community Based Recovery Services (CBRS)

Service description

The CBRS services are a set of award-winning services. They were voted community project of the year 2019 in the Luton and Bedfordshire community awards and runner-up in environmental achievement and community project of the year at the Love Luton awards.

Additionally, they won a campaign to protect rural England mark award in 2018.

Roots to Recovery
This is our garden-based project that provides a therapeutic growing space for Service users, members, volunteers and the wider community. It is a one-acre site off new Bedford Road where members can get involved in growing produce which is then cooked and served on-site or taken away to be cooked at home. This gives them a healthy and free choice in their daily diet.

Through our work in the garden, we equip members with new skills, help reduce social isolation, and promote positive mental, emotional and physical well-being. We offer our members a range of opportunities, including:

• access to a therapeutic open space
• a place to grow and cook organic food, enhancing healthy eating and benefiting their food budgets
• access to healing centres in a natural environment, for people with mental and physical ill health

Roots to Success
This project offers an expansion to our Roots to Recovery project by providing a social enterprise that will be used for horticultural training and wellbeing, while it gains an income from trading as both a gardening service and plant retailer (including online sales). We will utilise both sites to provide a more secure pathway from social isolation back into employment, training and volunteering opportunities. We will work with local training providers and employees, giving clients opportunities to learn new skills and practice them.

Recycle-a-bike
This scheme recycles broken bicycles with a group of volunteers. The bikes are then offered for sale to the general public. Those in need of a bike can also come along and follow a six- week course in which they work on a bike that they can then take away after completing the course.

How to refer?

• Self-referrals
• Referrals from Penrose Luton services
• Referrals from external partners, including ACE, ELFT, New Horizons, GPs (social prescribing) and other agencies.