Veterans' Growth podcast Jason Stevens

Nick talks with Andrew Fisher Tomlin Winner of many RHS medals, One of the two owners of the London Collage of Garden Design based in Kew Gardens and the Designer of many Show Gardens but most noteworthy the Blind Veterans Garden at RHS Hampton Court.
Andrew talks about his involvement with Veterans' Growth, and how gardening can help everyone not just veterans with many issues in life. Andrew may not be a veteran himself but has a great relationship and understanding of the veteran community through family and his involvement with many veteran charities through the years.
Andrew is a font of all knowledge and really does know so much and is happy to share as you will hear. Andrew can often be found at site just having a natter with veterans and seeing the impact Veterans’ Growth is making on them and always leaves site knowing that the contributions himself and the London Collage of Garden Design has made, makes a real difference to our veteran community.

Andrew is one of life’s true gentlemen and it has been a pleasure to have him so deeply (even though he doesn’t see it that way) involved in everything we do at Veterans’ Growth.

Today Nick from the Veterans' Growth Podcast Team talks to Sarah Wilson the Head of Horticulture at Veterans' Growth.
Sarah is a multi Award Winning Garden designer and Podcast host, Sarah explains how she ended up at Veterans' Growth and how it has had a massive impact on herself.
Sarah loves the fact that no two days on site are the same even if it's the same task that is completed.
Nick asks questions about what STH is and how it can help. 
If you would like more information about Veterans' Growth please visit www.veteransgrowth.org or contact us at hello@veteransgrowth.org
 

Nick talks to Bex and Sam from the Veterans High Intensity Service part of Op courage to find out what help there is available to veterans of the Armed Forces.
Rebecca Hankins is the Veterans Mental Health Lead for the Sussex High Intensity Service, she is a Mental Health Nurse and has worked with in a variety of settings including lengthy periods in the Criminal Justice System as well as seven years with a Veterans charity. Rebecca is the daughter of a Veteran and has current serving family members so the military is in her blood! Rebecca is passionate about Veterans and supporting them to get the best possible outcomes.
Sam is an Armed Forces Veteran having served 24 years in the Royal Navy having joined up in 1976. For the past 4 years prior to joining Walking with The Wound I worked for another Veteran’s charity, supporting Veterans in the Criminal Justice System. This involved offering them Peer Mentoring Support for up to 12 months prior and 12 months post release, working with the individual to produce a realistic Action Plan to ensure they could support themselves and more importantly not re-offend. This meant working with the Probation Service, NHS, Local Authorities and other 3rd Sector providers to meet the individual’s needs such as ensuring they had Proof of Service, recognised identification/ bank account, accommodation and employment.
I consider myself lucky, my transition into Civvy Street was relatively straight forward and having the support of family and friends was very beneficial for when things did not quite go to plan. However, for some Veteran’s that transition is not so straight forward as the past 4 years has shown me. Being involved in working with Veterans who lives are chaotic has proved me with a good foundation of skills and knowledge to take forward into my role as Veterans Liaison and Support Officer.

 
We were incredibly fortunate to be able to speak to Sally Galloway who is a nutritionist. Sally has:
 
Diploma Naturopathic Nutrition Dip NT  - College of Naturopathic Medicine London CN
 
Is a Member of BANT (British Association for Applied Nutrition and Nutritional Therapy)
 
Is registered with the CNHC (Complementary and Natural Healthcare Council).
 
Spent fifteen years as a professional chef
 
Sally’s views are based on a wealth of knowledge and experience. She specialises in digestive wellness, food allergies, anxiety issues, stress, hormones, immunity, healthy cooking and genetic testing.
 
Sally can be found at www.sallygallowaynutrition.co.uk  
 

There are a multitude of views on nutrition. In this podcast Sally provides a holistic view with advice that will undoubtedly support veterans and their mental health. 
 
Food is often underrated and is very important to mental health and wellbeing. With a little knowledge a person can eat healthy and well. 

In this special series of Podcasts, Nick from the Veterans' Growth Podcast team, a Veteran himself ,talks to both veterans and organisations that are there to help. Nick often asks the hard question and get the facts needed to help our veterans community.
Here at Veterans' Growth in our podcasts we are keen to offer a wider perspective of alternatives to veterans so that they can make informed choices or use the information from our podcast guests as a good starting point to increase their knowledge. 
We are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to speak with Karen Lawton. Karen is a herbalist and one half of the Seed SistAs ( www.sensorysolutions.co.uk ).
Herbal medicine (also Herbalism) is the study of medicinal drugs obtained from plants or other natural sources and the use of medicinal plants. Plants have been the basis for medical treatments through most of human history, and such traditional medicine is still widely practiced today.
In the podcast, Karen speaks about the importance of herbal medicine and the positive impact it can have on a person either as a stand-alone or in addition to pharmaceutical medicine.
The Seed SistAs believe that a positive shift occurs in each person that is educated about the harvesting and utilisation of herbal medicine.  Herbalism is a  system that takes the pressure off the NHS by empowering people to treat their minor ailments with abundantly growing herbs and a system that builds healthy communities by connecting people to their local plants, to each other, good health and the beautiful Earth.
Karen says " Open your senses to a world waiting to meet you.  Right outside your door are hundreds of herbal friends that can open you up and connect you to a supportive web that never leaves your side, all you have to do is listen closely.  Plant medicine is all around us, it is of the ancestors and of our future.  We cannot turn our back on nature, we can choose to evolve and to become Nature’s advocates and protectors. "
Karen as part of the Seed SistAs has an on-line shop and is the co-author of " The Sensory Herbal Handback ". She has an incredible knowledge of herbal medicine and is in private practice.

In this special series of Podcasts, Nick from the Veterans' Growth Podcast team, a Veteran himself ,talks to both CEO Jason Stevens and head of Horticulture Sarah Wilson.
Jason is a Veterans himself who has suffered and continues to suffer with his own mental health issues and Sarah his partner and Head of Hort who has so much experience in the horticultural world.
They have both given so much to Veterans' Growth, that Nick decided that to celebrate 1 Year at the new site so wanted to interview them both.
There are some people and companies thanked in this podcast but  as Sarah said "you will always miss people" so please look at the news letter for a full list. 
I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed asking them questions and putting them on the spot.

After 1 Year at the new site the change is amazing please follow them on social media to see the change almost weekly.
Sign up to the news letter at www.veteransgrowth.org