The Tower Hamlets Community Psychology Team and voluntary sector organisation Praxis held a launch event for the publication of a brand-new recipe book to tell the stories of hope and strength through food and cooking.
The team at ELFT comprises of psychologists and peer support workers who liaise with local voluntary, community and faith-based organisations in Tower Hamlets. Its aim is to strengthen community ties to provide accessible, culturally sensitive psychological services – with both preventative and responsive interventions.
One of the team’s valued partners is Praxis, a local organisation which provides expert advice, housing and peer support for migrants and refugees, so they can live with safety, dignity and respect. ELFT has worked with Praxis to deliver the ‘GIANTS’ project; a men’s peer-led group that advocates for better mental health support across the borough.
The team worked with GIANTS for approximately two years, using the ‘Recipes of Life’ (Rudland Wood, 2012) methodology. During this time, the recipes and stories shared by GIANTS were documented and collated. This resulted in the publication of ‘Recipes of Life’; a cookbook packed with delicious recipes and stories of migration and brotherhood. Each recipe was developed by GIANTS members, and the book has enabled them to share the meaning behind the meals and stories from home.
How do I get hold of ‘Recipes of Life’?
You can get a copy of the cookbook for yourself on the Praxis website. A donation of £18 – which will go towards keeping the GIANTS project running – will give you access to a whole host of new recipes to try out.
Speaking about the work of the GIANTS programme, Dr Jennifer Nicholas, a Clinical Psychologist at ELFT, said: “Projects like GIANTS can help to highlight the importance of challenging narratives about service users, such as misconceptions that men do not engage in psychology, and that communities are “hard to reach.”
“By working in collaborative ways that focus on rich heritages and cultures of local communities, this can help us to further promote social justice and equality for all.”
If you would like to learn more about the work of the Tower Hamlets Community Psychology Team, please contact the team on elft.th-community-psychology-team@nhs.net. For further information about Praxis, contact admin@praxis.org.uk, or visit the organisation’s ‘What we do’ page.