We know that gardening and spending time in nature is good for our health and wellbeing.
Through active and supervised therapy in these settings – under the banner of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) – there is a wealth of evidence of its benefit for physical health. Objective outcomes such as lower levels of Blood Pressure, Cortisol, resting heart rate are well established. There is also no doubt of its impact in rehabilitation following heart disease, stroke, cancers and neurological conditions.
Therapeutic Horticulture is also beneficial for a wide range of mental health needs including anxiety, depression, loneliness, autism, dementia and head injury.
There is also the possibility of its preventative role in protecting against ill-health in individuals irrespective of their risk profile.
Getting people out of their homes and mixing with others in an outdoor, fresh-air environment provides a catalyst to break down social isolation and accelerates the recovery process.
The Directory
As a GP, and a keen gardener and a Garden Designer, Richard Claxton had long been aware of the benefits that come from gardening and horticulture for his own well-being, but more importantly for that of his patients.
The COVID19 Pandemic and the UK Lockdown in 2020 saw a rapid growth in the wider use of gardening to maintain mental and physical well-being for many people. Moreover, there has been a steady growth in recent years of organisations across the UK which provide Social and Therapeutic Horticulture for service users.
People living with mental health problems, physical health problems, sensory impairments, learning disabilities, and a range of other problems including loneliness and isolation are all increasingly able to access help, support and camaraderie through these organisations. They also provide huge benefits for those that work for them – often giving their time and expertise on a voluntary basis.
The problem that he encountered as a GP was that he was unaware of what was available in his area. Often he’d come across these organisations in a rather haphazard way – perhaps visiting a garden in the National Garden Scheme, or as an affiliate of the Royal Horticultural Society – and only then understanding the role they could offer his patients, either to be service users, or to work as volunteers. He’d often find some amazing charity and blog about it – but was both sad that local GPs were unaware of its existence, and frustrated that the benefits were only available to such a small, localised population.
So with Social Prescribing booming, and actively encouraged by the UK Government, there seemed to be a lack of coordination and publicising of the available services – either to prescribers like Richard, other health or social care workers, or even for members of the public to self-refer.
This website started out as an attempt to address this need. It was hoped that people could use it primarily to find out what services are available in any given locality within the UK. Also we hope that the organisations themselves may be able to use it as a means of networking and liaising with like-minded Horticulturalist Therapists.
The Directory is growing fast. Gardening4Health relies on contributors to keep us abreast of changes in the Social and Therapeutic Horticultural Landscape. Please Contact Us to help us keep the directory accurate and up to date.
The Tonbridge Therapy Garden
To fill a geographical gap in the Directory, and to pilot a project within the NHS, The Tonbridge Therapy Garden was established in April 2023, funded by the Tonbridge Primary Care Network (PCN), using land given rent free on a Tonbridge allotment.
The participating practices within this PCN were: Warders Medical Centre, Tonbridge Medical
Group, Woodlands Health Centre (Paddock Wood & East Peckham, Hildenborough and Tonbridge Medical Group and Hadlow Medical Centre. They collectively have 64,000 patients.
Referrals mainly came from GP Surgeries, but some came via Social Prescribers, Social Work, Mental Health workers – NHS & 3rd sector, Learning Disability Groups and Homes, One You – Kent and Medway Healthier lifestyles, Churches, Temples and other faith groups, Veterans Groups and Domestic Abuse support organisations.
People referred to the Therapy Garden were called Gardeners, rather than Patients.
Tonbridge Therapy Garden Link Workers spent time assessing new referrals and planning sessions, then delivering the sessions, which ran from Tuesday to Friday, with Gardeners on site from 10am to 12pm or from 1pm to 3pm.
As well as supporting people with primarily Mental Health problems, we were expanding our offer to include shorter courses and one-off groups – delivered for specific groups with physical health problems such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.
In addition “Hit Squads” made up of the Link Workers and Gardeners visited gardens in the community, to help with hedge trimming and weeding (for example for elderly residents in social housing who had become disabled or unwell).
Through the winter of 2023-2024 we were laying plans to open up a second site in a larger allotment space at Paddock Wood – supported by Paddock Wood Town Council.
Unfortunately, early in 2024 the PCN withdrew the funding for staffing the project, instead using its dwindling resources to fund front-line in-house GP Services. The Link Workers contracts came to an end, and the Therapy Garden project closed down in March.
The Way Forward
To revitalise the Tonbridge and Paddock Wood projects, it quickly became apparent that we needed to form a charity, to fundraise and re-employ Garden Therapy workers and administrative support. We were delighted to have confirmation of our charitable status in October 2024. Our initial goal is to revive the Tonbridge Therapy Garden, and set up a Paddock Wood Therapy Garden using a similar model. While the two gardens bear fruit, we will develop a framework and toolkit that can enable others to set up their own Therapy Gardens across the UK.
In parallel to this, we will continue to build the Directory, send out regular newsletters, and hold symposia to provide networking opportunities, with forums and events to share best practice. Gardening4Health will help to create a network of Therapy Gardens that form a vibrant community; one that benefits from shared materials and programmes, all with the aim of delivering excellent Social and Therapeutic Horticulture to as wide a population as possible.
This website and its content is copyright of gardening4health.
© gardening4health 2020.
All rights reserved.
You may not, except with our express written permission, distribute or commercially exploit the content. Nor may you transmit it or store it in any other website or other form of electronic retrieval system.
Gardening4Health 