Mental Health
With 72% of our participants reporting poor mental health, common mental health disorders are part of our day to day work. However, we also regularly receive referrals from specialist NHS psychology units.
The case for diet is compelling, and it’s not just about mindful activity. Increasing amounts of research are linking nutrition to mental health. Diets high in Ultra Processed Foods increase risk of depression by 50%; improving your diet is as effective as our best drugs for depression with no negative side effects. Yet achieving a good diet on a tight budget is hard to achieve, harder still if you’re lacking in confidence and motivation. This is where we can help.
By providing personalised, empathetic support via trauma-informed mentors, we are able to provide the support and accountability required to help participants to complete the course, giving them the first step to a better life.
Listen to this 1 minute interview with a participant with PTSD
Diabetes and diabetes prevention
All diabetic participants joining our programme get special diabetic swaps and materials. We also work with the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme in some areas to support those who find following dietary guidelines difficult due to cost.
Our work uses practical learning to show participants how to substitute healthier carbohydrates to manage their blood sugar levels; eat more whole grains and pulses, how to substitute red meat with veggie alternatives, and to snack less. We have achieved excellent results with this group.
Amanda, who has diabetes, talks about her experience of the programme
Learning disabilities, autism & ADHD
After receiving referrals from Mencap for many years, this has helped us reformat our programme for accessibility to ensure that those, for example, with difficulties reading (dyslexia) or organising (ADHD) are not excluded from accessing and enjoying our course content.
We’ve run successful courses for people with learning disabilities that engage with both individuals and their carers. Cooking at home with a carer provides both a familiar environment and a friendly face – a winning combination. Our mentors work with the carer to support the participant, and a range of specifically designed materials and channels including: videos, illustrations and accessible text. This mixed media approach including WhatsApp engages students and fuels their enthusiasm.
We have also successfully worked with the parents of children with Autism and ADHD. Children with these conditions often will only eat restricted diets such as “beige foods”. Surprisingly, the parents of this cohort were very adherent and a higher proportion than usual completed the course. They all reported a positive improvement in their child’s food behaviours and eating habits.
People with physical disabilities
The accessibility of the programme is excellent for people with physical limitations as it is home based and can be done in your own time, allowing people to engage when it suits them and do things in stages which can be easier. The mixed media approach means that participants can choose the support that suits them; voice notes, phone calls, text, subtitled videos are all useful tools. People with hearing impairment find the text based interaction on WhatsApp ideal.
One surprising area of success is people with visual impairment, where we have had extremely positive feedback.
People with long-term medical conditions
We have recently developed specialist resources for people with long term debilitating conditions such as fibromyalgia, long COVID and ME, which interfere with a participants’ ability to cook in multiple ways; exhaustion and physical limitations impact, for example, their ability to hold a knife or stand for long, and temporal limitations mean what might be physically possible one day may not be the next.
Participants find that our practical strategies, such as advice on specialist equipment, are very useful, and that the flexibility afforded them by the mentored programme gives them the essential ability to cook when they are feeling well, and rest when not. With these participants we cook on their good days and freeze ahead for bad days.
In the video below, “Brenda” suffers from fibromyalgia and ME, and is in pain 24/7. This video was filmed 1 year after her participation in our programme.
People in recovery from addiction
We’ve helped people in recovery since our earliest days, so we have extensive experience in this area and have been commissioned for specialist courses, often working with recovery colleges, where we provide participants with essential regular one-to-one mentoring.
This is a video of some of our participants 1 year after participating in the programme. “Brian” is in recovery, living in a hostel.
Ex-offenders
We have worked on a nationwide partnership with social justice charity NACRO which was highly successful and supported 200 people through one-to-one mentoring as well as through groups.
The partnership was piloted with 10 service users in Teesside and then it was rolled out across all the NACRO housing services.
Care leavers
Many young people find they have to fend for themselves after leaving care and can become reliant on takeaways and ready meals, which are bad for their health and bad for their finances. Equipping young people with the skills and – in particular – motivation to cook for themselves is vital at this critical time in their lives.
In this BBC interview Sarah, one of Bags of Taste’s participants, talks about how Bags of Taste gave her the skills she needed to manage and budget her diet after leaving care, which failed to equip her for life on her own.
Employment Support
The Bags of Taste programme provides a fun entry level course, with a high success rate. This builds:
- Confidence to try new things
- Curiosity to learn and develop new skills
- Improved mental health
- Budgeting and money management skills