The power of nature is being harnessed by the NHS to help people’s mental health.
Woodland Wellbeing at Watchtree Nature Reserve, near Carlisle, is open to anyone registered with a GP practice in the Eden and Keswick & Solway areas.
For five Friday afternoons, people will be able to have a campfire brewed coffee before an activity such as firelighting, yoga, singing or woodworking.
Participants also take part in health-related discussion including sleep, breathing, the use of plants for health, tasting a foraged tea, or cooking healthy snacks over the campfire.
Dr Sally Brading, GP at Castlegate and Derwent Surgery in Cockermouth and leader of the Woodland Wellbeing sessions at Watchtree, said: “The Woodland Wellbeing sessions we have held so far at Watchtree have been really successful in encouraging people to step outside into a calming woodland environment, giving them the chance to develop new skills and forge new friendships, as well as learn helpful techniques such as mindfulness.
“We are seeing a real difference in the quality of mental health of participants and would like to encourage more people to take advantage of the programme.”
Evidence is building that spending time within a woodland environment has a positive effect on our mental health and a restorative influence on the body.
This helps people’s ability to make and build social networks – another important factor in maintaining quality mental health, particularly in a post-pandemic world where isolation and lack of social contact have had lasting consequences.
Social prescribing has become a positive way to overcome long term or low-level mental health conditions. It is an approach that connects people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing.
Hazel Stewart, NHS wellbeing activator for Keswick and Solway ICC and Woodland Wellbeing group facilitator, said: “People who have attended our sessions so far have really enjoyed them and benefitted from them in so many ways, such as learning about nature and taking part in conservation work, knowing they have made a difference to the environment, to learning techniques to overcome and manage feelings of anxiety.”
Ryan Dobson, general manager of Watchtree Nature Reserve, said: “Here at Watchtree we are well aware of the power of nature and a woodland environment on visitors – the Woodland Wellbeing scheme helps to make this even more accessible to those who will feel a benefit, be it socially, mentally or physically.”
For more information and to register, visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/north-cumbria-wellbeing-service-26470411849 for more information.
