A new therapy garden has opened at a Suffolk mental health hospital offering a place of peaceful reflection for inpatients and members of the community.
GreenMinds, the new mental health therapy garden at Wedgwood House on the West Suffolk Hospital site in Bury St Edmunds, officially opened on June 18 when the team welcomed those who supported the build to a ceremony
The garden represents the culmination of a two-year fundraising project led by Katherine Falk and Mossy Kennedy to transform the previously green wasteland into a biodiverse sensory garden for use by patients, staff, carers and vulnerable members of the wider community.
The launch event began with designer Mia Witham introducing the therapeutic thinking behind her design of the garden.
Dr Sue Stuart-Smith, author of The Well Gardened Mind and Patron of the GreenMinds garden, addressed the guests on the enormous benefits of engaging with nature in improving our mental and physical health.
“The GreenMinds garden is part of a growing recognition of the role that horticulture can play in improving health care services in hospitals and schools," she said.
"Green care, as it's sometimes called, is about sustainability - in terms of care for the planet and also the kind of psychological sustainability that comes from providing people with what they need in order to flourish."
Volunteer co-lead of the GreenMinds project, Mossy Kennedy, said: "This is a wonderful moment to have reached and the culmination of over 2 years of fundraising and collaborating with many talented people.
"The resulting garden is not only beautiful but it is already working its magic on the lives of everyone who interacts with it.
"We are immensely grateful to our funders and supporters who have dug deep and believed in our vision to create a thriving, sustainable and biodiverse model of green care in the community.”
The GreenMinds garden was completed at the end of 2023 and offers the chance for those experiencing mental ill health in the West Suffolk community to join horticultural workshops, activities, and a weekly volunteer gardening group.
It includes a favourite spot, The Lookout - a curved shelter hand-made from sweet chestnut with a view towards the majestic 200-year-old Cedar of Lebanon on Hardwick Heath.
Wedgwood House has 54 inpatient beds and 250 full-time staff as well as a crisis and home treatment team, a perinatal team, and is the base for the 111 (Option 2) service for mental health.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here