Together We Rise: Bethlem Baking Buddies
A Real Bread Campaign report on therapeutic baking workshops at Bethlem Royal Hospital.
Bethlem Baking Buddies was a pilot series of six, two-hour Real Bread baking sessions for resident mental health care service users at Bethlem Royal Hospital in Kent. It was run from 21 April to 26 May 2017 as part of the Campaign’s Together We Rise initiative, in association with Bethlem’s Occupational Therapy department and Sticky Mitts.
This report is intended to generate more interest in the use of bread making as a therapeutic tool and help pave the way for social prescription of baking. It is in two parts: The first is a report of the results of the pilot programme, and the second looks in more practical detail at how it was run for the reference of others considering running therapeutic bread baking sessions.
It follows Together We Rise1, which set out a proposal for an initiative to help more people benefit therapeutically and socially from baking, and the Rising Up report. The latter collected together existing and new evidence, plus examples of enterprises and initiatives working to help people benefit from baking. At the time of publication, work had begun on a follow up to Rising Up, looking at developments since 2013, for publication in 2018.
Contents:
- Background
- Participants and format
- Results
- Observations and reflection
- Conclusions and recommendations
- Facilities and equipment
- Basic Real Bread recipe
- Observations
Published Tuesday 14 November 2017
Real Bread Campaign: The Real Bread Campaign finds and shares ways to make bread better for us, better for our communities and better for the planet. Whether your interest is local food, community-focussed small enterprises, honest labelling, therapeutic baking, or simply tasty toast, everyone is invited to become a Campaign supporter.
