Exciting News about our Community Garden

Exercise, Health and Nutrition / Know Your Neighbourhood Project / Benfieldside Community Garden / October 13th, 2023

Exciting News about our Community Garden

Building Self-Belief are delighted to be a new member of the the Social Farms and Gardens. We are in the final stages of securing our 25 year lease in Benfieldside Community Garden. Once this has been confirmed, we are ready to get going on what will be a fabulous transformation.

We Need Your Help

As a project we will need as much support as possible from the community.  As a community garden we want to create a fabulous space that people of all ages can contribute to and enjoy. There will be planters for growing food, and wildflower areas, some mature trees are already there. What we want to d is involve the community on how we redesign the space.

What underpins our purpose is that it is well known that gardening is so good for our physical and our mental health. In our area, many people only have back yards, therefore to have access to a garden is a brilliant new addition to their lives.

Here are some of the benefits to being involved in community gardening:

  • Outdoor gardening can help your body fight disease
  • Regular gardening builds strength, promotes sleep and helps maintain a healthy body weight
  • Gardening can help protect your memory as you get older
  • Gardening is a mood booster
  • Gardening calms you after a stressful event
  • Community gardens foster a feelings of connectivity
  • Gardening can five you a feeling of empowerment


We are open to suggestions about how the space is used, we are also happy for people to give up as much time as they can afford to help us get this project off the ground. If you would like to volunteer in the garden for us, please get in touch.

Volunteer for us

Wellbeing and the Arts / December 19th, 2022

Travelling Home for Christmas | Robson Laidler Christmas Video 2022 - Featuring Building Self-Belief CIO

The Building Self-belief team were delighted to be invited to take part in the Robson Laidler Christmas video, which this year is a parody of Chris Rea’s 'Driving Home for Christmas' video, with a sustainability theme. We performed along with the County Durham Community Foundation and Oases Housing. Please enjoy the video, and feel free to share it!

Consett Heritage Project / September 18th, 2023

Voices of Consett - Eileen

Eileen has lived in Consett for 64 years, her family live in Consett, she works and socialises in Consett, her grandchildren go to school in Consett, so you could say her whole life is in Consett. She has three children and three grandchildren who all live in this area, one of them teaches in Leadgate, in Consett.

Self-Belief and Emotional Wellbeing / May 11th, 2022

Aspirations and Future Planning / May 11th, 2022

Teenage Girls’ Emotional Wellbeing & Aspirations Programme

We successfully delivered a twelve-week programme to support vulnerable teenage girls in Stanley, in an area of high socio-economic deprivation. Our project focused on early interventions to prevent longer term mental health issues, particularly with those who are suffering due to the impact of COVID-19.