Environmental conservation work, such as scrub management, can help people suffering from mental ill-health, according to a new study published by Natural England.
The report, A review of nature-based interventions for mental health care, was the result of a collaboration with the University of Essex and mental health charity MIND. It suggests that getting sufferers to engage with nature could be a cost-effective and important way of supporting mental health services.
Among its suggested courses of “green care” treatment, the report says: “Facilitated environmental conservation work has increasingly been used as a means of delivering various health, well-being and social benefits for a variety of marginalised groups.
“In these initiatives, structured, facilitated activities take place, specifically designed both for the conservation and management of natural places; and for the health…