Green Prescriptions
There’s been a flurry of activity recently both online and locally supporting gardening projects for mental health. GPs and social prescribers are once again looking to community gardens to support recovery for anyone struggling with their mental health, with post-natal depression, with isolation, with bereavement.
I couldn’t be happier to see this happening. I have ‘history’ with therapeutic gardening in the community, with families at the local children’s centre and in many of the schools where I’ve taught and now I’m connected with a new community garden at the nearby hospice where I am developing a cutting patch to work on with clients on Mondays. We’ve started with dahlias. I’ve grown them from tubers and planted them out, mulched with untreated sheep’s wool to keep the moisture in and the slugs out and used twiggy sticks and crossed fingers to deter the deer. In exchange for the space I’m keeping an eye on the rest of the garden when the charity are not there. It’s a beautiful, quiet space with plenty of gentle activity to do whilst we hold therapy sessions.
When part of my role was to support disregulated students, help them refocus and return them to the classroom ready to learn the school garden was the place we went. It delivered.
When the teaching day was busy, stressful, energy-sapping, the garden is where I went. It delivered.
When I was grieving, the garden is where I went for solace. It delivered then too. And if you’ve ever wondered why, here is the neuroscience which explains why green prescriptions are such a good idea.
Essentially when life feels topsy-turvy the garden doesn’t need your brain to do things in a straight line. You don’t have to finish one thing properly before starting the next. The garden supports your lack of focus. See a plant that’s struggling, move it. See a bare spot, plant something in it. Spot a better layout, change it. Despite the meandering, you can still build something alive, growing, beautiful.
Gardening gives you constant quick wins. Doing something with your hands brings instant, visible results. Dopamine hits again and again.
Being in nature is regulating. Being outside, seeing greenery, listening to birdsong, working slowly and mindfully with living things, away from screens calms the nervous system. Fact!
Putting your hands in the soil and your feet on the grass is grounding. . Direct skin-to-earth contact acts as a catalyst for a more diverse microbiome, lower stress levels, and improved immune responses. Soil contains a harmless, natural bacterium called Mycobacterium vaccae; exposure to this stimulates the neurons that produce serotonin, the brain chemical responsible for regulating mood and anxiety.
Is it any wonder that GPs are setting up allotments for patients, schools are looking to develop garden spaces, social prescribers are looking to connect with allotment organisations and hospices are making their grounds available for therapeutic gardening?