Diggin It

Matt Rawlins was a 24-year-old sailor on exercise in the Baltic when he developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after two of his comrades killed during a military training exercise. Unable to carry on with his military career, Matt was sent home, deemed unemployable. However, through taking part in Diggin’ It, a community garden project in Plymouth which is funded by BIG and run by the Routeways Centre, he has been able to go some way to rebuilding his life.

“I first started going to Diggin’ It in 2007 when the project was just starting up,” Matt, now 31, says. “The doctor said that I needed to find something to burn off all of the excess adrenalin my body produces as part of the post-traumatic stress disorder I suffer from. I heard about Diggin’ It on the radio when they were advertising for volunteers. I came along to the project and haven’t looked back since.”

Matt is now a key member of the Diggin’ It team, responsible for a range of jobs from general gardening to beekeeping and working with local young people who visit the project, many of which have been excluded from school. He helps to teach them about wildlife and horticulture through activities such as growing, pond-dipping, and surveying native wildlife. He’s even started giving talks about bee-keeping to local groups such as the Brownies and Scouts - something that a severe stress-related stammer would have prevented him doing before.  “When I first came here my stammer was so bad that people couldn’t understand what I was saying,” he says. “Diggin’ It has given me the confidence to talk to people and I’m improving everyday.”

Matt says that volunteering at Diggin’ It is not only helping him to improve his confidence and skills, but to also challenge the idea that he is “unemployable”. “It’s really hard to be told that because I always thought I’d have some worth and never thought I would be unemployed,” he says. "Diggin’ It is helping me move towards changing that and one day I hope to be able to get back into full time work.

"Diggin’ It is not just about growing veg - its about growing people. A piece of me died during that incident in 2002, and this project is helping me to re-grow myself as I once was. I don’t know where I would be if it didn’t exist.”

• Find out more about our grants programmes
• Find out more about BIG’s Reaching Communities programme
• Find out more about the Diggin' it.project