Supporting those who have challenges in life.
Charity Registration Number 1203080
The Mental Health Foundation has produced a short video of Mental Health Tips which are all based on robust evidence.
Supported by Wiltshire Community Foundation
See all our friends and supporters here.
Find us (and other local groups) in the Chippenham Activity Finder.
But in particular anyone who feels isolated on account of mental health issues, physical health conditions or neurodiversity (like autism or ADHD),
However, you don't have to have a 'condition' to become a member of Chippenham Collective.
See us in the local news!
Many apologies for this and we will work to become more inclusive but, initially, we cannot support people with the following needs during our work sessions:
Those aged under 18 years
Those with significant mobility issues
Those who can't pee discreetly behind a bush (Sundays and Thursdays) or cope with a tiny toilet (Mondays)
Those who cannot comply with our code of conduct
Those with personal care needs who are not accompanied by someone to support them.
In addition, please note that most of our participants will be under 40 (volunteers can be any age). Whilst there is no ban on participants over 40 they will need to be 'young at heart' to get the most out of Chippenham Collective.
Please contact us to discuss your needs.
Our co-founders have a range of quaifications and experience to draw on.
George has experience in gardening and conservation. In addition, he has advanced wildlife identification and biological recording skills with qualifications in zoology and entomology (insects). George is autistic and is happy to talk about its positive and negative impacts on everyday life.
Jess is a DJ and has worked as a carer. She is a keen gardener and allotment holder. Jess lives with epilepsy.
Dave is a former deputy head teacher and educational consultant with practical woodworking skills and a long-term interest in gardening.
Emily is a qualified social worker and, more recently, worked for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an inspection manager.
Emily is an approved Mental Health First Aid instructor with Nuco Training.
Our trustees bring a wide range of skills and knowledge to the charity and they are lovely people too.
Alison works as a lecturer in further education and previously had a career in leisure services. She is also an Ofsted inspector.
Jayesh has worked in finance and accounting, IT and IT service integration and various management roles with blue chip companies. He has also been a carer.
Nick is a qualified agriculturalist and currently works for an international aid agency in the areas of water and sanitation.
Emily is a qualified social worker and, more recently, worked for the Care Quality Commission (CQC) as an inspection manager.
Emily is an approved Mental Health First Aid instructor with Nuco Training.
Abbie works as a mentoring manager for a youth charity. She has extensive experience of working with young people in education and youth work settings.
Meet some of the volunteers who support us:
Nathan is in training for the Bob Cook games.
Alex is going to be supporting Nathan by taking lots of photos of our activities. She is under instruction to make us all look like catwalk models!
Alex's favourite thing is caring for animals.
Here are some pictures from our sites
We aim to be responsive to everyone's needs and focusing on how we communicate and adapting the environments we work in will help more than just our autistic members.
We won't always get it right, but our intentions are good and we will do our best not to be defensive when you tell us we have got it wrong.
According to an Autism Alliance survey in 2023:
Chippenham Collective does not claim to provide the answer to these issues, but we can be a calm place for anyone needing a break from 'battling the system'.
One of our core values is being non-judgemental so no one should feel marginalised because of their sexual identity. All are welcome.
We seek to include people from every background represented in Chippenham, so please don't think that your culture or ethnicity will make you less welcome at Chippenham Collective.
Karibuni as they say in East Africa - welcome all!
It can be hard to take the first step - we have all been there - but your interest will be warmly welcomed.
At the moment we run two sessions a week, including all bank holidays (except Christmas Day).
If the weather is bad we will just go for a coffee or something similar!
We are closed every year from 1 - 31 January.
Thursday evening sessions are every 4 weeks from March to October.
We need your consent to load the translations
We use a third-party service to translate the website content that may collect data about your activity. Please review the details in the privacy policy and accept the service to view the translations.