A publication of the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne

Health

Prescription for a better life? Soil, seedlings, a spade. Use as required

Nurturing a vegetable patch, tending pots of balcony crops, walking with a friend through a park – such activities became survival strategies for many during pandemic restrictions. With doctors starting to prescribe time in nature and in good company to support wellbeing, community gardens tick all the boxes, as Xavier Watt reports.

Prescription for a better life? Soil, seedlings, a spade. Use as required

Social or green prescribing, where mental health professionals prescribe time in the community or in nature instead of clinical treatments traditionally used to tackle mental health problems, is widely used in the United Kingdom and gaining traction in Australia. Supplied: Brunswick West Community Garden

Xavier Watt
 

Walking through plots filled with fruits and vegetables people have toiled together to grow, it is clear that the Brunswick West Community Garden is more than just a place to produce food. It is a place to gather. It is a community.

Richard Brown says that while everyone has different needs and motivations for being involved with the garden, the connections that people make are what keep them  coming back.

“A lot of people really like the social element of the garden, working together and being part of a community, it gives people a sense of purpose,” says Mr Brown, who has been involved with the garden for nearly ten years and is currently on the organising committee.

As concerns for wellbeing rise amid snap COVID-19 restrictions, more people are espousing the healing power of community gardens due to the social connections they foster and the opportunities they allow for encountering and nurturing nature. Indeed recognition of the benefits of community gardening are now such that there’s a push for doctors to prescribe it.

A working bee at Brunswick West Community Garden. “One of the reasons it has become so popular is the mental and physical health benefits that people get from social gardening”: Naomi Lacey, president Community Gardens Australia. Image: Supplied

A working bee at Brunswick West Community Garden. “One of the reasons it has become so popular is the mental and physical health benefits that people get from social gardening”: Naomi Lacey, president Community Gardens Australia. Image: Supplied

“We would love to see a social prescribing system like they have in the UK where mental health workers are prescribing time in the garden rather than antidepressants,” says Naomi Lacey, president of Community Gardens Australia.

Social or green prescribing, where mental health professionals prescribe time in the community or in nature instead of clinical treatments traditionally used to tackle mental health problems, is being widely used in the United Kingdom. The British National Health Service is planning to give at least 900,000 people social prescriptions by 2024.

In Australia, the move to doctors handing out social prescriptions isn’t as far advanced as the UK, but it’s gaining traction.

In 2019, the Australian Mental Health Commission noted that there had been some uptake of social prescribing in Australia with some primary health networks in Melbourne and Sydney seeing positive results.

The commission recommended that social prescribing be further promoted in the community as an alternative to primary health care.

Supplied: Brunswick West Community Garden

Supplied: Brunswick West Community Garden

Research shows that time spent in community gardens is the perfect way to combine the community and nature elements of social and green prescribing.

“Working together towards shared goals can create a real sense of community. And in a garden, a feeling of connection may develop, not just with other people, but with the living world as a whole,” said Yvonne Black, report author and PhD researcher in systems science at University of Hull, in an article for The Conversation.

Ms Lacey says community gardening has become a vastly more popular activity in Australia in the past few years, and she attributes much of this growth to its health benefits.

“One of the reasons it has become so popular is the mental and physical health benefits that people get from social gardening,” she says.

“People get involved for a range of different reasons, but it is often the friends they make that keeps them connected.”

This adds to the growing chorus of organisations in Australia promoting the benefits of social gardening.

Beyond Blue has partnered with the Gardens Centres Association of Australia since 2014 to promote Garden Re-leaf day, a day dedicated to promoting the health benefits of gardening and raising money for mental health support.

“It can do wonders for your physical health and mental wellbeing,” said the CEO of Beyond Blue Georgie Harman in a media release.

Mr Brown says many gardeners have sorely missed the healing benefits of time tending their plots during successive COVID-19 lockdowns in Victoria.

While some gardens were permitted  to continue basic operations during the most restrictive stage four lockdowns, they were usually only allowed one person on-site at a time and this eliminated the social component of community gardening, says Mr Brown.

The closure of Brunswick West Community Garden during COVID-19 lockdowns has been particularly tough on older people and those who live by themselves, he says.

Community gardens around Melbourne are now back up and running since the easing of Melbourne’s latest lockdown, and Ms Lacey says she would love to see more people getting involved in one of the one hundred  community gardens located around Greater Melbourne as a way to reconnect with their community.

There are more ways to join in the fun than just getting your hands dirty, says Bronte Haines from the Melbourne University Community Garden.

“We run heaps of education programs at the garden that people can come along to and learn new skills,” she says.

The Melbourne University and Brunswick West Gardens both host workshops aimed at educating the community about sustainability through gardening.

“We have workshops on indigenous gardening, permaculture, composting and more,” Haines says. “These are skills that people can take home with them to their own gardens or pass onto others.”

“I just love seeing people make connections through nature.”

Anyone wanting to get planting in their local community can head to the Community Gardens Australia website to search for their nearest garden.

About The Citizen

THE CITIZEN is a publication of the Centre for Advancing Journalism. It has several aims. Foremost, it is a teaching tool that showcases the work of the students in the University of Melbourne’s Master of Journalism and Master of International Journalism programs, giving them real-world experience in working for publication and to deadline. Find out more →

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