Community garden supporting mental wellbeing

A community garden is being praised by users for providing headspace support through outdoor activities and inclusive engagement programmes.

The Green Patch in Kettering, Northamptonshire, uses its 2.5-acre site to support young people, adults and families through gardening, therapy sessions, and mental health and wellbeing activities, all at no cost to participants.

The group was founded in 2007 and is regularly used by schools and community groups.

Emily Oakley, children and young people's manager at The Green Patch, said: "There are limited opportunities for young people to be outside. [This] allows them to be outside on their terms to support mental wellbeing."

The project is part of the national charity Groundwork and has previously won awards including a Green Flag from the Keep Britain Tidy group,

Marcus, 25, has attended the Green Patch since 2016 and now regularly helps care for the garden and its chickens.

"It's helped with my wellbeing, my mentality. I was very shy, quiet, didn't talk a lot," he said.

"Now I'm a bit more open, friendly with people. I've got used to it now and I've accepted this new life that I'm doing now."

Kate Buckby, a volunteer who helps supervise woodworking sessions, said: "There's a lot of young people with learning difficulties and elderly people. I get them as a group, supervise them and jolly them along.

"There's a real mix of people - some just want to sit and enjoy the space. It just helps their headspace to be down here."

BBC Radio Northampton is supporting Headfest, an annual festival focused on mental health wellbeing with an emphasis on schools this year.

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