CASEBOOK: Creating a charity for the community

BBC Presenter, Singer and Actor Andy Pierce had a dream of starting a Mental Health advocacy charity blending nature with wellness – and not only did he achieve that…but The Pierce Perspective has now won community awards for its innovative spaces which bring the community together through planting, growing, and getting outside. It’s an inspirational chat.

Our CASEBOOK podcasts are previous recordings on a theme or topic – This month, our final month of bonus episodes is about living our best life

About the Show

Each Thursday at 4pm, we broadcast on LinkedIn and YouTube, with the podcast released on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more. 

Then every Friday at 8am (until the end of August), you’ll also receive a bonus podcast episode (like this one) - a carefully selected recent conversation offering practical insight and timeless support.

Wherever you listen, you’re invited to pause, reflect, and reconnect: 

PODCAST: https://mentalhealthmatters.buzzsprout.com

YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5dbYRwciNQ3c2hZwpsfxnNIvpijH4S2b 

Today's show is hosted by

Dr Audrey Tang www.draudreyt.com  @draudreyt

Judith Crosier https://www.facebook.com/p/Judith-Crosier-Presenter-61556005102240/

Guest Expert

Andy Pierce

https://www.thepierceperspective.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:03

Good evening and welcome to Mental Health Matters with me, Dr. Audrey Tang. My co-host is Judith Crozier, and today we've got a very special show. We are welcoming Andy Pierce. He is the founder of the Pierce Perspective, and we're going to be talking about third sector charities and how to thrive. Andy, welcome to Mental Health Matters.

SPEAKER_01 0:22

It's such a pleasure to have you on the show. It's honestly an honour to be here. You know, I love you guys. I love the show. To be sat here.

SPEAKER_04 0:33

It's so lovely for me because I've been on your show so many days. Mental health, and it's just this is so exciting. Thank you for being here. I mean, I know you, I love you, I think you're amazing. I think the work you've put in for mental health on the radio, this is Boopsey Lester. You've done such an incredible job. You've always created space for mental health conversation, which is so important. But now you have founded your own charity. You are out there pioneering the way for not just mental health but horticulture and mental health, which is so important. Please share a little bit about your career and how you came to doing the amazing work you do at the Pierce Perspective.

SPEAKER_01 1:10

I mean, so okay, start at the beginning. Um I was an entertainer, born entertainer. I was a I was an actor as a kid, uh, did some TV stuff and then uh became a singer and got quite you know a bit of notoriety as a singer. Uh I did a TV show, BBC One uh called All Together Now. Uh that's what got me the radio job. Um and then whilst I was um at BBC Leicester, I suffered the loss. So it was um I lost three people within two weeks.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

Um, two of them were death by suicide. And it it it shook me. It made me it honestly it wasn't good. And I realised at that point that was there was a pivoting moment that I realised that I was in a position with a voice that people listened to. So uh that's when I created the feature on my show, Mental Health Matters, similar to this perfect name. Um, and you know, every week I interviewed professionals like yourself, um, counsellors, therapists, organizational leaders, um, people with lived experience, to you know, to break the the taboo around talking about mental health, to be able to signpost to different resources, um, showcase strategies of coping mechanisms, that sort of thing. Um, and then my role at the BBC came to an end, and I was a bit sort of I was a bit head scratchy, a bit like, what do I do now? And I didn't want to let go of the mental health because I'd found a real passion for it. So that's when the charity got got born, and uh I I was I was very much up in the air of how to do it, but it it all fell into place, it's very universally driven the whole my whole journey towards it. And uh I started off with a podcast because that's obviously radio, that's that's where I knew. And um, after the first episode of the podcast, I got contacted by a lady called Alison Broughton, uh, who's a psychotherapist, but she also specializes in nature therapy. So we had a meeting, and I explained my vision to her, and she was like, Can I be part of it? You know, can we can we can we go at go at this? Uh so Alison came on board, and yeah, the the charity is we're now just over two years old. Um, we've got like a well-being garden that I'm so proud of. It's been created through uh CSR Days, Corporate Social Responsibility Days, uh with many different organisations. One of my biggest strengths has been networking, has been you know, uh shouting from the rooftops of the message that I want to do advocate, educate, empower, and you know, help people through different resources. So the well-being garden is a main resource, a main sort of strand of the charity. But we've also got like a schools outreach program, so we do workshops in schools, uh, we get kids to come to the well-being garden. We do um lovely, yeah. It's oh it's it's beautiful, it really is. And for them as well, to have the understanding of nature, yeah, the link of nature to mental health, it's it's phenomenal, and and there's so many uh justifications of that link, you know, the nurture inside of it, the blossoming, the blooming, the pride of looking at it. Um we've got a well-being retreat space that is in design at the moment. I've also got the concept of an international retreat space uh that's gonna be uh in Cyprus.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

Um, so that's that's further down the line. One of my big I'm I'm an ideas guy, I love my ideas. And my advisors quite often say to me, just when are you gonna do this? I'm like, no, no, no, trust me, it'll happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um I want uh a tropical garden in the Midlands, an indoor tropical garden in the Midlands so we can house plants from all over the world so kids can come and see these plants that they may never see in their lifetime. And so that's uh maybe we'll call it a five-year goal. It's a very fascinating goal.

SPEAKER_04 5:06

Absolutely. I mean, what you're doing is absolutely brilliant because I think sometimes when it comes to mental health education, you know, I was a psychology teacher at school, it's a bit dry. It's a bit, you know, oh learn this, learn this theory. But what you're doing is you're taking people out into nature, they're learning patience, they're learning nurture, they're learning um letting something grow in its own time. Just little messages like that are so important, and they're working with the hands, they're working with each other. And actually, you have been recognized for this because you've just won some awards. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:38

The community awards! Oh, so it's it's second year running, I'm really proud of it. Um yeah, it's celebrating um community pride award um in our in our borough. Um, and yeah, it's just it's nice, it's a nice recognition of what we're doing, of how we're growing, and it always helps as well. So you're always networking, you're always meeting people at these events. You know, we've got so many uh so much backing from councils, um, government, we've got our local MP is is um supporting us wholeheartedly. Um we're immersed in well, I say immersed. We we are let's say foot deep in the uh healthcare system at the moment. So we're linked with the social link prescribers, local area coordinators, so they're referring people into our workshops, our well-being workshops at the garden. So it's a nature connection to well-being, so they can learn and grow at the same time as learning to grow, I suppose.

SPEAKER_05 6:36

Nice! Fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

It's incredible, and I was gonna ask about the community, but I think a better question would be when you're talking about community, you're not just talking about this school is gonna take their class and go into the garden. You are talking about healthcare system, government, uh, organisations, businesses. What can third sectors learn from you about what community actually can entail?

SPEAKER_01 7:05

It's so okay, it's I think it started already with corporate and social responsibility. Yes. Um, I've noticed a lot of people coming out of the woodworks to say, can we help? There's still a lot of businesses that aren't, that don't see the value of CSR. But really, what they're doing is giving back. They're being part of a new community. Yes. And if they give back to the smaller charities, the smaller organizations, the grassroots organizations, they're part of a new movement, a new wave of mental health advocacy that's that's out there for everyone, you know. Mental health help, it I always say it doesn't see age, it doesn't see colour, creed, gender, orientation. It you know, mental health affects everybody. And for for for companies and businesses and organizations to really get behind the movement of helping and showcasing what is out there and new strategies, new coping mechanisms, especially through CSRs, because they get to come to those places. It's not just okay, let's we'll do a fundraiser, we'll all wear city clothes, we'll all bake a cake, we'll do this. They get to come to these sites and they get to see what it's what they're they're doing to grow.

SPEAKER_05 8:28

Yeah, that's beautiful, yeah, and really, really important. There's you know, such a difference between what you do and what what others do too, which is exactly, yeah. So that's that's amazing. I love I love that. Um, and this is something that's really close to my heart. So you also host music festivals, and as you said, you're you're a singer or you've been a singer. Um why uh and how have you found music to be good for developing great mental health?

SPEAKER_01 8:58

I mean, we all love a sing, yeah, don't we? Whether and I always say everyone can sing because it it's just choosing the right songs.

SPEAKER_02 9:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

But music, it transcends.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:11

You know, uh let's take mental health out of the equation for a second, and we'll talk um uh brain debilitating, we'll talk Alzheimer's or dementia. Music can break that. You know, it's been known there's a there's a chap who's a swing singer, um I think he's in his 80s now, and um heavily suffering with Alzheimer's, and his son was taking him to the doctor's appointment, radio was on, and it was an old, I think it was an old Nat King Cole song or an old uh an old swing tune. And all of a sudden his dad came alive again, and he saw his dad. His dad just started singing in the passenger seat of the car. And he went forward with his dad, and um they they recorded an album and they've released the album and and they've sold it, and and proceeds have gone towards research. So it really shows that music can break down barriers. So in in the world of mental health, you know, it can if you're in fight or flight, music can change how you're feeling and change you to a sort of rest mode instead of being in that heightened sense. Music can can, you know, it's the it's the oxytocin, it's the it's the dopamine that it releases, um, serotonin, you know, it's all of these things because I don't know the scientific reason behind it. I just I believe it's through enjoyment and you know, your mental load, when you're singing, you're only thinking about singing, yeah. You're not thinking of the woes and the stress and the you know the trauma that you're in, you're just letting it go. And that is the power of music, yeah. And that's why we we uh as the charity, you know, we did our fundraising event last year, Music for the mind. Um, we'll be doing it again this year, and it was it was it went down a storm. Um, and I think you know, thanks to my radio days, and a lot of people say, Yeah, we'll come and help you because they value my mission and they see it. You know, we had uh three bands, five soloists. I even snuck in a set myself. Of course, I didn't go and open it. The only reason I organised. It was a phenomenal event supported by like the councils, the borough councils, um, a phenomenal turnout. Um, you know, the partnership that we've got with Britvic and Winkanton, they supplied all of the drinks. Um, so it was it was just such a brilliant event, and music brings people together. Yeah, that's community, isn't it? That's what community is.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

Is that incredible?

SPEAKER_05 11:53

You've got a little choir, and that's a community in itself, and you know, I yeah, I really believe in that really strongly. So it's so lovely to hear that that's another branch of what you do. Yeah, it's brilliant. It is, it is, it's fantastic. Um, and also, as well as all of that, um, you have a really fascinating role with voluntary action Leicester. Can you tell us a bit about that?

SPEAKER_01 12:15

So it's it's a it's a new role for me, um, and it's basically so that the role itself is called Health Watch Officer, um, and it's working with different parts around um the the Leicestershire, and it's basically being the voice of the people. Uh, it's being able to network, being able to meet communities, like we say, it's all about communities, isn't it? Uh meet the communities, understand what works, understand what doesn't work, being able to feed that information back into the hierarchy to I suppose to affect policy change and be able to structure, help, resources that are going to be there in the borough. But I'm really, really excited about it because it it twins itself with the charity and with the work that I do already, and it's it's a new a new step, really, for me.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

It's fantastic, and it's something that I think you'd be so good for because it is about listening. You're one of the first people to say we listen to what doesn't work as well, because there's so many people wanting to do great things, and I I don't you know take that away from anyone who wants to give something to charity. But if you're giving and it's just not the right thing for that particular community, it's you need to try something. Change your energy, direct it somewhere else, you know. It's about knowing what that community really needs. Oh, we're keeping Andy, and we'll continue this conversation after we've heard some tips from our resident experts.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

A meaning nervous system reboot you can do anywhere. Most people wait until they're completely overwhelmed before they try to regulate their mind or their emotions. But small resets throughout the day protect you from getting to that point. Here's a two-minute reset I teach my clients. So try it between uh tasks today. Your mind will thank you.

SPEAKER_05 15:04

Welcome back to Mental Health Matters After Hours, where we're talking to the lovely Andy Pierce, who is a speaker, motivational speaker, and um charity founder. Uh it's a lovely conversation. Um so heritage. Um heritage can be something that um affects our mental health. Um, why do you think that that might be?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

I suppose learning who you are, learning where you've come from, because you know, uh culture, heritage, it really plays a part in who you are, no matter so if you don't know who you are, if you don't understand your background or or your your sort of ethos or your cultures, it can be difficult not to you, you know, you feel alienated, you feel maybe that you're in the wrong place at the wrong time, or you don't fit in, or or you should be doing this to fit in, or whereas you know, understanding your heritage helps you understand you.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

Because that just really used whilst you were talking about the tropical garden that you've got this plan for, it just reminded me of I would love to see plants that we can't grow here. Because otherwise, you know, I go back to Malaysia to eat the fruit, I go back back to Malaysia, you know, to to see the greenery. To have it here would just reconnect people as well.

SPEAKER_05 16:24

You can immerse yourself a little bit in your culture here rather than having to go there.

SPEAKER_03 16:29

So I think that's just such a lovely thing that you're doing with a tropical garden, it just that just really made me smile.

SPEAKER_05 16:34

Yeah, it sounds lovely, and it makes sense as well. What you say? You kind of maybe feel grounded if you know where you come from and something about where you are. Um I love that. Um thank you. And how do you um find that your um your charity work and your directorship kind of intersect?

SPEAKER_01 16:55

It's it's networking, isn't it? Yeah, it's but for myself, like I've grown the charity because I have a passion for helping people. And but you know, being a director and and and you know, a CEO of the charity, it's all about meeting people and explaining the vision, and you know, explaining it in such a way that people understand because you know one person might hear it one way, but if you you know you I talk about maybe a different strand of the charity and how that can help, that could appeal to somebody else differently. So it's about meeting people, it's about understanding people and just being open, I suppose, open and transparent and genuine.

SPEAKER_04 17:40

Yeah, that brings me nicely on to my next question because um I think we don't really understand much about third sector work in general. You know, when I was at school, you did a sponsored run and you raised money, and that would that was kind of it. That was your only connection with the third sector. But to have it's a job, and it's a wonderful job to be part of. And so relating to that, you're so active with the peers perspective in actually going out there, getting communities involved. When it comes to, say, mental health charities or mental health policies, even, what do you see is still lacking?

SPEAKER_01 18:20

Openness. Openness. I mean have having I mean you speak to anybody that's had mental ill health. Probably one of the main things they'll say to you is time. It took me ages to speak to somebody. It took me ages to to get my my diagnosis or my journey started of understanding. More organizations like ours, what I've done, need to be it's the grassroots organizations, they need to be championed, they need to be lifted up to show that it's not just going to your doctor and getting pills. There are so many different ways of getting help. And those ways need to be showcased, those ways need to be talked about more. The whole mental health taboo needs to be talked about more because it's still, you know, I always say about America, America are, you know, they might be behind us in some ways, but they are leaps and bounds ahead of us in mental health understanding. You know, you speak to an American person, and nine times out of ten, nine point nine nine percent, they're gonna have a counselor or a therapist. Yeah. Because they understand talking, they understand that there is no stigma there, there is no issue about talking and opening up to somebody about your problems. Because it's the old proverb, you know, a problem shared is a problem halved. And it really is. You talk about a problem, it helps you in your mind, it helps you paint the picture of what's going on. It shows you the overview of the angle, it gives you a different perspective.

SPEAKER_04 20:02

I think it's funny when you said America, I went back to, you know, childhood and when you talk about American TV and things like that. It used to be a joke that Americans all had therapies, and I remember it was it was seen as a bad thing, and of course it's really not. The fact is, to have a therapist, you understand there's something you want to work through, and there's no shame in it at all. And that means in the UK we will have had a stigma because I know I've felt that when I've heard other people talk about therapy, and now we need to rework that, we need to change that. Um, one of the problems, though, that I see in the UK now is this therapising kind of approach where people are doing therapy in spaces where therapy should not be done. And I think that's a counter-issue that we have. I'm all for schools and workplaces having people to signpost to and having day-to-day interventions. But when a teacher or a manager thinks they're a therapist, I think you've got problems.

SPEAKER_01 21:08

You know your barriers. Yeah, you can't be able to do it. No, you know where you are, no know what your wheelhouse is.

SPEAKER_04 21:12

Exactly, exactly. And we've had um really good conversations on the show as well with with therapists who we've talked about, say, music therapy and drama therapy and hypnotherapy, even, and it's like it's therapy using the medium of. And that's the big distinction. So, you know, I think you're absolutely right. I I I just worry about where we're sitting with it in the UK right now, which is why it's so good that you're doing the work that you do. Um, so on that, are there any simple things that we can do ourselves just to boost our mental health or just keep keep cortisol at bay or the bad cortisol at bay?

SPEAKER_01 21:52

I mean, nature. Yeah, it is, isn't it? Not just horticulture, but I mean, well, I'll I'll give you a horticulture. Example as well, but nature, get out, get out in nature, walk somewhere. You don't have to walk far. You know, when I said when I talk to people and say get out and about, I'm not talking about going on a five-mile hike. Do you know what I mean? You could go for a fit a 10-minute walk around the block. You know what I mean? But just it's it's about being present in the moment. So you take yourself away from your screen, away from whatever it is that you're immersing yourself into. Be present in the moment. Listen to the birds. Feel the wind.

SPEAKER_02 22:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:34

Feel the sun. Okay, there's not that much over here. Feel it on your skin. Because that's the only way that you're really present in the moment. And getting out and about in nature, especially, you know, if you've got a woodland nearby or or a common or some grassy area, you know, you can it makes you feel so different. People say to me when they come to the well-being garden, because our flagship well-being garden, which is in Burbage, it's in the middle of an allotment unit. So people say to me, so it's a gated access to the allotment unit. And as soon as you come through the gate, close the gate and lock it, you take two steps and you see shoulders relax.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

Because you're just in this, I mean, you're surrounded by horticulture, you're surrounded by cultivation across the board. It's it's wonderful the allotment where I am where we are. But once they get into the well-being garden, there's there's the only sounds that you hear is nature. You know, there's no traffic noise, there's no it's beautiful, it really, really is. And and horticulture-wise, anyone can do this. So, you know, a box of chocolates, let's say. Yeah, you get you get your you know your normal brands, you quite as you treat your roses, don't you know the plastic tubs, bit of compost in there, get yourself a little packet of peas.

SPEAKER_02 23:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

Okay, it's really easy to do because you don't need a garden for this. So everyone says, you know, oh, I'd I'd I'd love to garden, but I haven't got a I haven't got a garden. Doesn't matter. You know, even if you've got a windowsill, that is all you need. Yeah get yourself one of these tubs, bit of compost in, just poke a little hole and pop your peas in, just lightly cover them and water them. Okay, that's it. All you need to do every couple of days, give them a water. Within about a week, you'll see results. And as soon as you see those results, it releases something within you. It's true, it is, it's it's the nurturing side of it, it's the the pride of you have you have grown. And then especially with peas, you know, wait until they get about a finger length, snip them all off, stick them on your salad, into pea shoots, and they'll grow again, and then they'll grow again.

SPEAKER_02 24:49

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

It is it's plant a pin, it's and and there's something really beautiful about that because I don't remember when we used to grow must uh crescent. It was so exciting to see and then to eat a bit and then we're gonna be able to do it.

SPEAKER_01 25:08

Yeah, it would taste better if you know yourself.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

I love that because I think the other thing that you mentioned about going out and just feeling the weather, for example, I think we get, especially as adults, we get very caught in our heads and we think us, we try and think ourselves healthy. And just resetting and feeling the breeze or feeling whatever you're feeling connects you with your body again, which is a bit of a disconnect. I know a lot of guests have said that as well, but we we need to reconnect and we need to go forward holistically as people because I think that's the only way we're gonna thrive, actually. Andy, we're keeping you, and we will be back just after these tips from our resident experts.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

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SPEAKER_05 27:42

Where we're having a lovely discussion about spider plants. And all things mental health that does relate to the mental health.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:50

Um, and uh quality street tins as well. Love that. Um, so what are your plans for the Pierce perspective?

SPEAKER_01 27:58

It's a bit of a mouthful, isn't it? I didn't think about that. Um, so the idea is to basically to help as many people as I can. With the well-being gardens, I want a well-being garden in every county across the UK. Um, I want to twin that with our wellbeing retreat sites. So we've got our first wellbeing retreat site in the village next to Burbage coming, uh it's in design at the moment in Aston Flamville, um, and that's gonna be like a beautiful shepherd's hut for us to be able to do guided meditations, um, clinical therapy as well. Um, and uh we've got a fire pit to do fire therapy. Uh, we're gonna have like an allotment area as well to grow stuff on that site. Um, but yeah, the the well being gardens, I'd love one in every county across the UK. Um, I also want to grow the retreat sites, and I want to be able to house an international retreat space, um, which I'm in talks at the moment with taking it over to Cyprus. Um, so that's gonna be for sort of CEOs, um, C-suite executives, directors. With the goal of that is gonna be really to bolster resilience, help with workflow process, and avoid burnout. And I know you know a lot about avoiding. Uh you'll probably be one of our speakers if you're not a speaker. Um, so I've you know, the plan is you know, a lot of sort of yoga by the sea. Um, we'll have a business mentor there to be able to talk through workflow processes, um, and I'm gonna link that with a bit a large UK retreat space as well. Um, obviously, the Tropical Garden is on the wish list. Uh that that will just be a space for kids and people of all ages to go to and see horticulture flora and fauna that they may never get a chance to see in their lives. Um, one of my big um projects for the charity, which was actually one of the first projects that I ever came up with, is creating a full-blown mental health educational plan. Um now the the concept has moved forward from just a concept, it's now in sort of budgeting and understanding it. Um but the idea of this is that it's a three-staged approach. Um, it starts uh early years, so it starts in the nurseries, in in you know, those spaces where young kids are, and it's uh linked with a persona doll. So there'll be a persona doll, um, nature stories, uh early terminology of mental health, but linked into age-appropriate content. Then the persona doll will go into stage two, which is key stage one to two. Uh the persona doll will then change to an animated character. And these kids will then, because obviously they've created an affinity with this doll. That's the that's the that's the goal, a comfort, and a twinning, uh, a knowledge of this doll. Uh then it'll change to this animated character, and then again, age appropriate mental health advocacy and um strategy, coping mechanism um uh awareness for these kids. Bite-sized, just bite-sized little videos, but you know, the more it's repet repetition, isn't it? The more we hear about things, the more we start to think about them, the more we think about them, the more we understand them, the more we understand them, the more we do about them. Um then from stage two, it'll uh work into stage three, uh phase three, which will be key stage three onwards, and the animated character will turn into a real life person. Um and then I will be able to sort of disseminate the mental health knowledge, understanding, resources, coping mechanisms, how to signpost from key stage three onwards, uh, right the way through the rest of their educational journey. Now, the goal of that is to have 95% of school leavers leaving school with the skills and the abilities of mental health first aiders. Imagine a generation of you know, a a c a whole generation leaving school with those skills and those abilities going off into the world.

SPEAKER_04 32:20

Yeah, and you're talking really about having the language to talk about these feelings and not having the repression, and you're also not talking about teachers having to learn another skill, which which is where I worry about the danger coming in. But I think this process is a very well-managed process to bring in mental health education.

SPEAKER_01 32:42

Yeah, that's the idea. Make it easy, it'll be curricul, you know, it'll fit slot nicely into the curriculum, and it'll just give the generations that come that understanding before, you know. I won't talk about the schooling system. Yeah. Because, you know, it's we're all we understand it. Yeah, exactly. You know, it was it was made for a time that has passed. Yeah. And the the schooling system now should be more um uh student-led, should be more uh understanding instead of uh trying to impart you know pi to 13 digits. I don't need to know that. But the understanding of mental health, yeah, that's what I could have done with when I left school. Understanding that of because then that could have stopped me from fe from feeling the way I felt when I hit you know at the hole. Um, and yeah, just trying to get it out there and get get as much help to as many people as possible. That's all I really want to do. And um, bees as well. That's something else that's coming uh next year. Yeah, um, we're gonna I want to do like beekeeping therapy, beekeeping techniques. Um obviously that there'll be another side of that is to try and create a revenue for the charity, to try and create uh make the make the charity sustainable because you know I don't want this charity, my charity, to be a handout. I don't want it to just be there going, can you give me some more money to help more people? I want to grow it to be self-sustaining and for it to then fund itself, and it'll just be a perpetual motion then of helping people and being able to keep going. Which is brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 34:23

No, I think that's really really lovely, and I think that's where a lot of third sector needs to change their approach because no one has money anymore, even if they wanted to give money, they just it's really really difficult. So if if you're doing something and you're giving people something back in return, at least that feels more like an exchange. If you have got a stream of income that's doing a good job, that's even better. Yeah, you know, so yeah, it's brilliant, and yeah, brilliant plans as well.

SPEAKER_05 34:49

I you know, I love all of those. It's like um thinking about the education, it's it's sort of normalizing everything to do with you know good mental health and talking about it. I I really like that. Rather than kind of leaving school and then all of a sudden being expected to then being okay with talking about it, we're not because that's what we've talked about.

SPEAKER_01 35:11

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 35:11

So it's it's brilliant, brilliant plan. Thank you. Um, so so going back to horticulture and gardening, um it it's it's really evident how that can really help with with good mental health, but what if people don't have green fingers, you know, and they they can't grow anything, even a spider plant or even a cactus, which is supposed to be very easy. Um, what are some small things that we can do to help ourselves instead of gardening?

SPEAKER_01 35:39

I mean, I'd always say give it a go. Like the pea shoots. Yeah, yes. It's easy, it's simple. I mean, and if even if the the good things, somebody taught me once, um, it was my content guy, we were mentioning in the break, uh, a guy called Nick Turrell, he now works for RHS Wesley. Oh, he's a phenomenal content creator for them now. Um, but he taught me something to do with gardening, and it was about acceptance, about understanding that not every seed will grow. You know, but all you can do is try. Yeah, and that's all you need to do. You just need to try, be present, and just have a go. Because without having a go, you'll never know.

SPEAKER_05 36:22

Yeah, it's true, and also, even if you can't grow something, then just being amongst it and being with people who can maybe that's just as good.

SPEAKER_01 36:31

But with the well-being garden, you know, you we don't when people come to us, they don't have to sow the seeds, yeah. They don't have to do the weeding, or you know, they can just come and just be in the garden, you know, sit on the bench, sit by the fire pit, or or you know, they they can make a brew in the workshop, or just walk around the polytunnel. They don't have to do stuff, but just surrounding yourself with it. It's it's the smells, it's the textures, it's you know, um our our entranceway. Um, we've got lawn chamomile, creeping thyme, and flocks. So, like the lawn chamomile, you know, you walk on it, it releases fragrances like a very subtle pineapple-y fragrance. And it just having those extra, you know, smells and and textures, it really helps our sort of sensory element to just feel at ease. And and if you do, you know, delve into the gardening side of it, you know, fingers in the soil. It's the there are you know, it's known there are chemicals in the soil that go into your skin and they help release oxytocin within the body. Really? Yeah, it's it's not just the the act of doing the gardening, it's it's I suppose mother nature.

SPEAKER_04 37:51

It's like the sea as well, it's got minerals that really help. Yeah, it's it's really, really interesting. And talking about the smells and and the retreat, I I do an educational retreat. Um, I do this for somebody else. And um they have a fireside chair by the fireside, and it's just beautiful. It really makes a difference because it was the first time when I did it two years ago. I was like, this is a real fireside chat. This is a two year it was absolutely brilliant by the fire pit, absolutely beautiful. You could smell it, it was just relaxing, it was lovely, you could see the sunset.

SPEAKER_01 38:28

Feel the heat, yes, yeah. It it's exactly that, and uh linked to what you just said about the sea as well. Fire and water are nature's elements. Yeah, okay, so you you look at a fire, it can be extremely peaceful. You you're seeing the flames lick around. And with water, I was recently in Cyprus and I was stood on the beach in Ironappa and I was looking out, and I was I had a bit of an epiphany, and I said to my wife at the time, I said, I think that's why the the pace of life is so different abroad in Mediterranean country countries because when you just stand and you just hear the water and you s you look out, I noticed the way the sun hit the water and the way it rippled across. And it's kind of like watching white noise, seeing all of the little glistens off the water, and it just it really grounded me in that moment, and and I I'll I don't think I'll ever forget that moment because I just felt I just felt so relaxed and so at peace. It was it was beautiful, and yeah, being being with near water, you don't have to be in it, because I wasn't in it, I was just there, and I was just listening and just taking it in, and it was just a wonderful feeling.

SPEAKER_04 39:51

It's that's incredible, and uh and I think with bringing nature into especially inner city places when there isn't so much. Um I was reading Lee Kuan Yu, the founder of Singapore, his biography, and the one thing that he really honed in on to make Singapore stand out was to green it. And then he said, actually, this is the one aspect that when he started getting competition from Malaysia and Thailand and Indonesia and everyone, he said, I don't care. If you're all greening spaces, we're gonna have nicer spaces for all of us. And so on that, um, what would what do you hope to see in the UK, especially in inner city places? Living walls, yes, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 40:33

So people are being an office and they'll have not got any space to do anything, but you've got walls, yes. So create a living wall, moss, people a lot of people get rid of moss. Moss is one of the biggest CO2 catchers that we have on the planet. Moss and peat. They're they're they're you know, luckily we've we're we're keeping the peat now, yeah. Um, but moss, I think people still need to break the stigma around that, and it it you know, controlled and having them in an environment, they can really help. And just being part of an office, I can't remember where I was, I think I was in London, and they had a living wall, and it was um through a whole sort of guttering filtration system um that circulated back on itself, and I don't think it would have been that expensive to buy, but for those people in that office, it changed the vibe, and there wasn't necessarily colour on it. I mean, I suppose throughout different times of the year they probably put different things in, but just to have that greenery indoors and the way it looked, it was it was wonderful, and that's what I'd say to big businesses, big corporations, think about that because that alone will help you know the climate change as well. Um, it'll help your air quality within your offices. Better air quality means better workers, more peaceful, you know, a better better ethos, a better feeling, a better vibe in the workplace. And just a simple, even a simple hydroponic system on a wall, you can grow so much. And even if they're not growing stuff to eat it, look at it. Yeah, take it in because you know that business, that organization then is is bringing back life, yeah and putting that life back into the business, which is it's just incredible, and and not that hard.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

You're absolutely right, there are walls. If nothing else in a concrete jungle, there are walls. Oh my goodness. Andy, where can we get hold of you and learn more about you and find out more about the Pierce Perspective?

SPEAKER_01 42:35

So we're we're across all socials. Um, it is just the Pierce Perspective. Um, you you can check us out on our website, which is then again it's the PeersPerspective.com. Uh, if you want to email us, it's info at the PiersPerspective.com. Um, on the website, we've got a lot of information about our school's outreach programs that we do, our well-being gardens, our well being retreats. Um, the mental health educational plan, I think it touches on it, but because that is so big, I've not broken it down on the website yet. I want to get everything in place before we then really push it onto the website. Um, but you know, for businesses that want to reach out and and you know participate in this corporate and social responsibilities, all I'd say is drop me an email, drop us an email, we can have a chat because there will be a site that you can come and visit, spend a day with yesterday, for instance, uh at the Wellbeing Garden, I had uh the wonderful people from the school playground company. Uh, the owner came down, Chris, and he brought a team of I think there were four of them there, and they were just they were in their element as soon as they walked in smiling, they were like, look at this place. So Chris has been a supporter of the charity since we started, and I hadn't realized that he hadn't been to the site since uh early days, really. And he his face he looked like a kid in a sweet. It was just like looking at it. He couldn't believe it because when he first came, none of it was there. It was just an old, abandoned, disused polytunnel. That's another reason of what I'm doing. You know, regeneration, yes, regeneration spaces and bring it back. And yeah, for him, he was just like, this was nothing. Like he was looking, there was a shed there. There was a jungle over there. And I was like, yeah, and look at it now. We've got a beautiful wooden workshop, we've got a beautiful polycarbonate polytunnel. We've got stunning plantable splanting space out the front with their coal frame. We've got our own water catchment system, so we don't need to rely on the allotments. We've just they they yesterday uh they put the solar panel on the roof for us. So I've been dealing with um our portable solar panels, taking them in, putting them out, taking them in, putting them out. Um and uh luckily we've got donated an industrial-sized solar panel, but I hadn't had a chance to get it up yet. And uh the guys, as they were working, so you know, yesterday they they built a corner, uh, a corner unit to house all of our sort of long tools, they built a smaller unit to house all like the um the spades, the forks, the half moons. Uh they built a corner planter that's gonna that sits outside now in between our two benches. Um and uh it was one of the fellas there, he was like, So what do you want me to do now? I was like, Well, can you just check that door for me? He's like, Okay, so you check that out. Oh, it works perfect now, okay. What do you want me to do now? And I was like, How do you feel about going up on the roof? I was like, Yeah, why? I said I've got this solar panel, and he's like, say no more. And that was it. He was up on the roof, done, and so we've got the solar panel in now. And that's the other thing about the site as well. The whole site's been built on solar power. So it's been it's been all sustainable energy that has been used to build the site, and that's my um my goal is to grow like that, always you know, be sustainable and uh utilize the elements that we have. Water catchment is a big part of it, um, and yes, solar power. Amazing.

SPEAKER_04 46:09

Oh my goodness, listen to you all day, and I can't wait to go and see all of this happening over the next few years because I know it will happen. Um, but we now need to go over to test the trend. So for test the trend today, we're gonna set you a challenge. Do one thing for your mental well-being, one active thing that you can go out there, not just think about it, just go out there and do it. And to give you some tips and ideas, I'm gonna ask our guests here and Judas as well, to tell us what they've done for their mental health that's made the biggest impact. So we've already heard about the the the peas. So, Andy, what's one thing?

SPEAKER_01 46:52

I mean, growing anything will help you. Growing anything will help you, and even if you know you you go to the shops and look at the the end of end of season, what is on offer? Get whatever's cheapest, plant it out, and just grow it because it'll really help you. There's that, or there's just going out for that walk. Get yourself out there in nature, doesn't have to be long, but just be present in that moment. Definitely, I love that.

SPEAKER_05 47:21

Oh, dude. Well, funnily enough, I was think of thinking about two. So one was I always say this, don't I, going out for a walk in nature with my dog always that always does it for me. But the other thing then, which I will mention, is is singing, and so it was something that I'm really interested in. So singing, which you know that that um has featured a large part of my life recently, and especially singing with a choir, it's just just one of the best things ever. And and you hear all the the harmonies and everyone comes together, and it's just yeah, it's just fantastic, I think.

SPEAKER_01 47:55

So because singing with a group as well, well, at least is different chemicals than singing on your own. Yes, yeah, yes, yes. It does say, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:01

And they're both um they're both beneficial in in different ways. So I and and I've done both, so yeah, yeah, it's brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 48:09

So mine's very similar, it's dancing. Yeah. So one of the best things that I did was when I was looking to continue professional development, I trained as a burlesque instructor for no other reason other than that. I was looking for something really interesting to do. And I thought, well, I was I was an aerobics instructor years ago. That was my very first teaching job. Oh, it was at aerobics instruction, and so I thought, you know, well, let's try this. I love dancing. And for me, that is the one thing that I never realized it would have so much of an impact because every Wednesday I look forward to going to teach, to dance with the class, to just release any of that energy, and I know that I come back feeling better no matter what. It's just it's just lovely, and it's the same thing with the um dancing with a group, dancing on your own, there is a difference, it's all the chemicals that are released. But I was reading recently with um Alzheimer's. Um, dancing, it continually works all of the different muscles as you're coordinating, as you're learning choreography, as you're learning timing, more so than something just running where you're just using the same muscles again and again and again. So it does help sort of stave off um Alzheimer's and dementia a little bit better than activity but repetitive activity.

SPEAKER_05 49:23

That's sort of good, but I mean, because choreography, it's it's just it's a hard thing. I mean, you you you um dream it up, you cor you choreograph dances, which I find just I I wouldn't be able to do that for a million pounds, but following choreography takes so much mental effort, effort and true focus, yeah. It's incredible.

SPEAKER_04 49:44

No, so definitely I think we've got some really good ideas there. So it's like join a dance class, join a choir, plant something, grow something, or just go out for a walk. Any of those, especially the walk, that is simple, and we're not telling you to go on a five-mile hike, we are just saying walk around the block. So that is your challenge this week. We've reached the last part of the show. This has just been so long. No, we need to come back. We need to come back when when you've got the um tropical garden and all because I fully expect all of these things will happen. Because you're so driven, and it's not even about the achievement, it's just the passion that goes into that.

SPEAKER_01 50:31

It is, it's my want to help. It really is. I don't think I even mentioned in 2026, we're starting our men's um mental health page as well. Well in fact, uh so we're gonna be doing um men's well-being Wednesdays. So that we're the evening, an evening, it's gonna be more of a support group, uh, just a couple of hours of a Wednesday evening to get together. I'm gonna let the group decide the journey of how they go, about what they learn. Um I'll I'll give them some suggestions, but I'm gonna let it be their journey, and that's something else that is is really I'm really passionate about, and obviously bereavement therapy as well. Um because Alison, our psychotherapist, she's um a big advocate for bereavement and grief counselling. Uh so we're gonna really start to help people in bereavement and and and work through grief and things like that as well. Um, so yeah, there's just so much coming. I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_04 51:24

Brilliant, and I just think it's so important to have some male spaces. Yes. We don't have enough of them, and as much as I know, I've to bang on about this. It's great that the scouts have girls, etc. etc. But I think boys need a space to be boys. Boys and men need their own space to be able to be able to be able to do it. It's not fair to have girls in a boy's space when boys need to learn to course correct on their own, they need to learn boy stuff in a boy way. Yes, and I think that they can't relax sometimes with female, they can't be themselves, yeah. Yeah, so we haven't female spaces. I'm not trying to take away from female spaces or say that girls can't do this, that, and the other, but there's nothing wrong with having a space for men, a space for boys, a space for women, and so on. You know, we just need that. So, yeah, I'm really happy to hear that. That's brilliant. But I mean, today there's just been so much. I am inspired now to try and plant some pigs in a sweet box. You know, how wrong can this go? I've got it, I'm gonna get it.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

You've got it, you'll never let them now. That's that first salad when you cut them up and you throw them oh, you'll enjoy it. Because I did love the crest.

SPEAKER_04 52:38

So that's that's really resonated with me that it can be so simple because I think we get it in our heads that we've got to be creating orchids and things. So, you know, that's that's my what what what have you taken?

SPEAKER_05 52:49

Well, apart from your huge amount of energy and passion that you mentioned, that's come across the the whole show. Beautiful. Um, which which is inspiring, I have to say. Um, I think it's the same, it's the little things, just do something little. And I I agree, I grew some um flowers last year, and the joy when they come through, and you see the little shoots, um, was amazing, sort of out of proportion with what I'd actually done. So I think to to add to to have something edible and do that, replicate that with something edible is is even better. So I'm gonna try that too.

SPEAKER_04 53:27

And then your point about community being a much broader concept than we realise, because I think you do need support from the local government, the council, and things like that, because we are talking about changing environments, and whilst things some things can be pushed through, perhaps with Grumbling Council, if everyone's on board together and you've galvanised the whole community, it will absolutely blossom, and that that's a big lesson I think that we can all learn in the third sector. It's not just about the little project, it's about how far that goes. So, no, thank you so much, Andy. It's just been such a pleasure. Yeah, um, please come back. I will. I'll be banging on that door. Um now, what would be a lovely tip that we can leave our audience and our viewers to go away with and do this week?

SPEAKER_01 54:18

Okay, I will give you, because I've given you a lot already. Yes, yes, we've got it. Let's let's take it away from the horticulture and let's just talk breathing. Let's just, wherever you are, um what you know, once you finish this, turn things off and just be. Just you can close your eyes so you're not distracted by anything that's around you, and just take even if it's 30 seconds and just breathe. Just feel parts of your body, like you feel your toes, and just sit and just breathe in and breathe out, and it'll just help ground yourself, okay? And you can do that whenever you're feeling stressed, whenever you're feeling concerned, whenever you've got those external worries or or concerns. Remember that you're always allowed to take a moment for yourself.

SPEAKER_04 55:08

Beautiful, beautiful, and on that note, have a good night, you can't get it.