I was really inspired by the Greener AHP week webinars. I work in an acute mental health unit for working aged adults in the South West. One of our ward gardens is in a bad way, the last raised bed had to be removed because the wood rotted and it hasn't been replaced. Does anyone have any recommendations regarding designs or suppliers (who can factor in the ligature risks etc.)?Â
Inpatient Mental Health Gardens
Hi - Many of the major banks have various "charity" days where they get people to come out and fix the gardens. I took part in something like that for St Mungo's, via the Goldman Sachs https://www.goldmansachs.com/citizenship/community-teamworks/ community teamworks thing. They might even have a gardener they can recommend, or you can contact St Mungo's and see if they'll help you out with a contact?
Ask your staff for ideas, I imagine there will be gardeners and creative types in amongst them and they know your target users better than anyone.
Why not link in with your local University. This is the kind of project that our undergraduate Occupational therapy students would love to engage in, it would stretch them beyond the use of gardening as a therapeutic tool and push them to think about design that incorporates risk management and sustainability.
I know that Newby Leisure https://newbyleisure.com/ recently designed some wheelchair accessible raised beds for Homerton, so they may be able to help out with specific designs.
where is your garden Lydia? I'm a medical herbalist and a gardener so would love to get involved with a project like this....
Have you thought about applying for the Elsie Wagg Scholarship from the QNI and NGS . i created a Wellbeing Garden at one of the GP Practices I used to work at.
https://qni.org.uk/news-and-events/news/applications-sought-for-gardens…
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