A vandal has ‘destroyed’ a mental health clinic in Stroud, tearing away a ‘safe space’ from service users.

Between £300 and £400 of ‘targeted’ damage was done to Weaver’s Croft, a summerhouse next to Stroud General Hospital which supports people with a range of mental illnesses.

Sue Tomlinson, district team leader for the Independence Trust, which runs the clinic in partnership with the NHS, said workers arrived in the morning to find the venue ‘totally trashed’.

“Everything was destroyed, it wasn’t just ransacked,” she said.

“Everything was stomped on and broken, it was a real targeted scene, somebody did it on purpose.”

“There was nothing of any great value in there at all but they decided to destroy everything.”

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She said nothing like this has ever happened in the five years the clinic has been running and that the service users are distraught.

“It’s really awful because we work with really vulnerable people and this is their one place in the week where they come to find a place they know they can go and people will listen and they can find safety in a world which they find quite distressing - then their world is just destroyed.”

Weaver’s Croft, in Field Road, supports people with all diagnoses through therapeutic arts and gardening sessions, with clients often referred by Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Cathie Hole, Interim Operational Manager and South CPI Team Manager at Weaver’s Croft, said: “We were really disappointed to discover the vandalism as the summerhouse is regularly used, and is a hub of therapeutic activities.

“It’s such a shame as a lot of work had gone into creating the space, which makes it all the more upsetting for everyone at Weaver’s Croft.”

Police said enquiries are ongoing into the damage, which took place between Friday, July 16 and Tuesday morning.

It not known if more than one person was involved.

Ms Tomlinson said workers and service users will begin clearing up the mess tomorrow and the summerhouse will not close, but they are looking to move to somewhere more robust and secure.

“We will be back, we will clear up the mess that people have made, and we will start again.”

“Whether they [the perpetrator] are unwell themselves, who knows. And if they are and they read this article and they need to talk to somebody, we are there, that’s what we’re there for, to support people.”

Anyone who witnessed the criminal damage taking place is asked to contact police.

Information can be submitted by completing an online form and referencing incident 206 of July 20.

Alternatively you can call 101 with the same details.