Trust secures £10k funding to develop therapeutic community green space
The Live Team at Nottinghamshire Healthcare has been successful in securing £10000 of funding to develop unused land behind Blossomwood and turn it into a therapeutic community green space. Blossomwood site, run by the Trust, provides inpatient and outpatient services for adults including older adults who need specialist mental health care.
Severn Trent Community Fund, which supports new projects in the Severn Trent region with a genuine community need and a real impact on improving community wellbeing, have provided £9000 of the funding for the green space project.
The Institute of Mental Health Community Fund, a research partnership between the University of Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Healthcare, donated £300 following a fundraising appeal from the Trust's charity.
The remaining £700 was raised by the Trust's Live Team and donated through Nottinghamshire Healthcare's charitable funds. The Live Team supports patient involvement, engagement, and experience through meaningful activity, therapeutic spaces and community links across the Trust's Mental Health Care Group.
The Live Team, who submitted the funding application, have been working with patients, families, carers and colleagues and the local community both within and surrounding Blossomwood to collaborate, develop and use the area of overgrown green land which is situated behind 'Millfields', one of the Trusts Local Mental Health Team bases. The new area will be known as 'Millfield's Community Green Space'.
Adam Jackson, Clinical Live Team Lead and Occupational Therapist said:
"This funding will allow the Live Team to support patients, outpatients and the community to create a beautiful therapeutic space that has been co-produced and designed by those who will be using it. Those using it come from a variety of background, including older adult patients, adult patients, colleagues, family, friends and the local community, such as volunteers, green social prescribing services and independent community groups - all coming together to create a sense of universality and togetherness in the benefits of nature."
The space will have multiple uses for the community, decided by the community, and will include a meeting space, horticulture, relaxation and sensory gardens, nature development and connectedness, a safe space for intervention and recovery and an open space for social and cultural events.
It will also bring opportunities to hold horticulture sessions, 'grow your own' fruit and veg, biodiversity habitats and develop community group links.
Lucy Kennedy, the Trust's Nature Recovery Ranger, is leading on the implementation of this exciting green transformation and said:
"The Millfields garden is such a lovely patch of land with so much potential for gardening activities and nature. It is already a wonderful calm space to be, and busy with birds and butterflies, as well as the local deer. I already enjoy spending time there and I look forward to making it a place other people want to come to as well."
Dominic Gardener, Care Group Director for Mental Health Services said:
"This exciting new project is a fantastic opportunity to bring together the inspiration and ideas from our patients, families, carers, colleagues and local community reflecting the needs of those who will use and benefit from this fantastic green space. I look forward to seeing it come to life to provide a reflective space for therapy, relaxation, nature and mental wellbeing."
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