Collaboration is the key to our success. We love working with other charities and community groups to help them transform their spaces. If you are interested in working with us, please get in touch.
Benfieldside Community Garden
Having secured a 25 year lease on a fabulous garden space in Benfieldside, Consett, Building Self-Belief, with the help of our volunteers, local schools, the allotment society and the community has created a fabulous space for people of all ages to enjoy. The new facilities include:
- amazing new fully inclusive paths
- a summer house with a composting toilet
- a fully stocked fruit growing area
- new plnters for our vegetables
- a sensory garden with a beautiful patio area
- a forest school area
- a new sensory play area
- a storytelling corner
Our children's gardening club has been a great success! Our next stage is to develop a series of programmes and activites that engage the whole of the community and prevent social isolation and support their health and wellbeing.
Kye's Kick Off
Building Self-Belief had the absolute pleasure of working with the students, staff and community associated with Boldon School to plan and deliver a charity football match - Kye's Kick Off - in honour of their friend Kye Cunnington. Michelle and Kevin are absolutely delighted with the care and support they have had from everyone involved. Kye' s parents want the money collected to go to the the Teenage Cancer Trust for all of the help and support they received when looking after Kye. We have created a series of posters, events and films for this event, and we hope you enjoy sharing the experience with us.
Celebrating Stanley
Take a look at our fabulous Celebrating Stanley project. There are podcasts, interviews, art, poetry and they all focus on why it is so special to be part of the Stanley communiity.
Oxhill Nursery School Green Leaders Project
The ‘Oxhill Green Leaders’ project involved twenty five children from Oxhill Nursery School, in Stanley on a across the spring and summer of 2025.The sessions enabled the young people to become ‘Green Leaders’ and actively engage in ecology and sustainability based activities. The programme provided early intervention to prevent longer term mental health issues and also included the production of a documentary film, an external visit to Gibside (National Trust) as chosen by the children themselves and a final celebration event. We were also delighted that the success of the programme was recognised by the award of a Silver Medal from 'Northumbria in Bloom'.
Know Your Neighbourhood
Know Your Neighbourhood is an 18 month project where we will be working with young people in Consett to create a team of volunteers to support older people with a whole variety of services. Our work includes:
- Devising a marketing campaign with Cardinal Hume Catholic School to persuade people to volunteer with Building Self-Belief #haveaheart #playyourpart
- Developing and hosting a series of sessions to support the community to get online and be more knowledgeable about how to use online services, including:
- Organising numerous youth clubs in the local community
Tow Law Eco Ambassadors
The ‘Tow Law Eco-Youth Ambassadors Project’ was delivered by Building Self-Belief CIO and was kindly supported by the Energy Saving Trust Foundation and Airbnb. This project supported youth-led conservation and sustainability-based activities that focused upon youth led engagement to improve and educate the wider community on the current climate crisis. The programme enabled a core team of ‘Eco-Ambassadors’ to engage with hundreds of local people around the importance of preserving and enhancing their shared environment.Watch below our Tow Law Eco Ambassadors Film of our 2 year project with Tow Law Millennium Primary School and Blessed John Duckett Catholic Primary School.
North Shields, Coastal Research and Sustainability Project
Take a look at the fabulous work of Year 5 and Year 6 of Christ Church CofE Primary School North Shields , they loved learning about the sea, the environment and they devised some fabulous ideas about how we can all work together to 'Save our Seas' in their very own Marine Manifest.This has been funded by the Stronger Shores Community Grant scheme, that is funded by the Flood and Coastal Innovation Programmes.
The Consett Iron Company Community Heritage Project
Consett’s steelworks industrial heritage brought many years of prosperity and employment, alongside associated ‘red-dust’ pollution, industrial disease and mass unemployment after its closure. It is a heritage that deserves to be recorded for posterity and built upon with voices from the present. Much of the past steelworks site has vanished and has been developed for housing or become waste ground. Many people who worked there have sadly passed away since its closure, many of industrial related diseases.
However, working alongside young people and the wider community, we shall ensure that the institution that literally built Consett has its heritage recognised by the people who lived and worked there. Engaging new generations of local people with no memory of the former steelworks along the way.
Teenage Emotional Wellbeing and Environmental Engagement
Our project used environmental, and creative arts related activities, to support the young people’s emotional wellbeing and self-confidence. The programme’s activities developed their arts-based skills and also included visits to Haystax Inclusive Farm Experience in County Durham, where they participated in a range of environmental based activities.
The project was kindly funded by Consett Rotary Club, with additional support from the County Durham Community Foundation ‘Community Arts & Culture Fund’ and culminated with a final celebratory event, to recognise the achievements of the young people. Take a look at our amazing film to find out more about this project.
Together For Our Planet Garden Transformation
In collaboration with local businesses and individuals we were able to transform Consett Academy's community garden. Our transformation project at Consett Academy helped our young people develop better connections with their peers, their communities and gave them a way of improving their own and other people’s lives for the better.
What was an unloved area, is now bright and inviting and at a stage where the students can really experiment with growing their own food and cultivating their own flowers. It will be used as a wellbeing space for students, plus an outdoor classroom where a whole variety of students can access and use the space.
'Let's Create' Platinum Jubilee Project
Building Self-Belief CIO supported Tow Law Millennium Primary School, County Durham, and the wider Community in a range of creative and cultural activities to mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in June 2022.
The project enabled young and old to come together in common celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s 70-year reign. All of the children's creative work was displayed and performed by them at the Tow Law Community Centre during the weekend of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations. Take a look at our amazing film to find out more about this project.
Sensory Room Project
In collaboration with other charities, we work with young people to help them redesign their own spaces. This transforms them emotionally and supports their well-being by improving their environment.
Our most recent project was with Learning for Life where a group of girls from Consett Academy worked with the learners from Learning for Life to create a brand new sensory room for the young people with special needs. Take a look at the film to see the amazing impact of our work.
The Den - Transforming Spaces
Our Transformation of The Den Youth Club was also an exciting project to work on. Having a safe and comfortable space is essential for all young people, and this is what we created as part of out project at The Den. Watch our film which demonstrates the incredible journey of transforming this space.