Garden party to mark the opening of the Fieldhead Caring Garden
A garden that can be enjoyed by anyone at the Fieldhead site in Wakefield is being officially opened on Tuesday 11th September with a host of activities.
Work on the Caring Garden began in March this year and since then the land has been developed into a multi-use space for visitors to Fieldhead to enjoy.
The Caring Garden Project is part of the South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust’s Creative Minds strategy, which underlines the Trust’s commitment to having a creative approach to service delivery as well as promoting more opportunities for people to develop and grow creatively.
The use of creative activities in healthcare such as horticultural therapy in healthcare has been shown to increase self-esteem, provide a sense of purpose, develop social skills, help community integration and improve service users’ quality of life.
The garden project has been developed by a steering group made up of staff and carers, who have planned a green space that can be enjoyed by anyone at the site. The space offers a relaxing environment as well as space for services to offer horticultural therapy as part of a person’s recovery pathway.
As well as a selection of fruit trees the garden includes a log cabin as well as growing patches for services based at Fieldhead and also groups from the community to grow their own vegetables and flowers. There is also a seating area where people can sit and enjoy the garden.
The garden will be officially opened by the Trust’s director of corporate development Dawn Stephenson, who will be joined by service users based at Fieldhead. After the opening people will be able to take part in a number of activity taster sessions such as bulb planting, Tai Chi and Nordic walking.
Speaking about the project Dawn Stephenson, said, “We’re excited to open the garden and mark the start of its use. The project group has aimed to create a space that can help improve the health and wellbeing of service users, staff and visitors at Fieldhead and we hope they’ll enjoy it as much as we have creating it. We know from research that as well as providing a pleasant environment, gardens can benefit our mental wellbeing, by helping to reduce stress and anxiety. The trees and garden area will also help increase biodiversity on the site and increase access to green space. We look forward to seeing service users and staff as well as community groups enjoying the space. “
More information about Creative Minds can be found on the website.
