Sustainability service users describing it as helping them to relax and reduce anxiety.
Sustainability service users describing it as helping them to relax and reduce anxiety.
Especially positive feedback was from our dementia ward, where it helped calm some previously quite agitated service users. We found it particularly helpful on our dementia ward for reminiscence with patients and opening conversation with our staff.
Subsequently, we commissioned our own Yorkshire-based nature VR programme to be made. We now have five locations around the county available for our service users to visit virtually, inspiring them to visit these places on discharge.
These headsets have been especially popular when wards are doing mindfulness sessions; rather than service users having to do these in a small clinical room, they can now do so while virtually immersed in the Yorkshire countryside.
Other connections
When I was an occupational therapy student, I knew little to nothing about nature therapy and never imagined it would be part of my career as an OT. One of the aims of this project has been to change that for future students, not just to make them aware of it, but also to ensure once they graduate, they already have some knowledge and experience in the field.
Therefore, we have worked closely with the University of Bradford to embed nature therapy within the syllabus. This has involved me holding several sessions for the students on nature therapy at the university, plus us holding sessions for students on placement with the Canal and River Trust. We have also started to offer a role emerging placement with Natural England.
In September 2024, we held our first nature week; this was a chance to promote the project across the trust, but also to introduce new activities and expand them to staff. We held several activities across the week, including a nature survey, a forest bathing session for staff and a nature photography competition for both service users and staff.
Since starting this project, I have given many presentations about the project and am being increasingly asked to share what we are doing here in Bradford. To support the case for making this role permanent, a local film company was commissioned to create a short film for us to summarise the project.
Next steps
We’ d like to expand the project to other teams and locations across the trust and we are already in talks with several other teams to replicate some of the programmes we have been running. A particular goal would be for every team to have access to an allotment space for their service users.
We are also hoping to expand collaborations with local nature organisations would like to work with Mind in Bradford to strengthen community pathways and improve physical health.
Other areas to focus on include staff wellbeing, staff horticultural training, and making better links with other trusts.
However, there are some barriers, including staffing, the green therapy role not yet being permanent, the‘ red tape’ involved to get things off the ground, and no real outcome measures to record the success of our groups so far. We are currently in talks with psychologists within the trust to work more closely together to improve this.
Courtney J and Euden P( 2023) Working to develop services through green therapy, OTnews, 31( 11): 50-53
Words JOSEPH COURTNEY, Green Therapy Project Development Officer, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust joseph. courtney @ bdct. nhs. uk. The film is available to watch via the QR code, or contact the author for a written report on the project
Above top left to right: A service user with Shaun O’ Hara from YORGreenCIC and Emma Clarke, Energy Waste and Sustainability Manager at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust, planting trees together above Silsden, Yorkshire
Above bottom left to right: OTs Will Worboys and Suzanne Williamson being interviewed at ACMH
September 2025 OTnews 21