Grounding in the Garden

The Grounding Project in Kennington, London, is funded by the Maudsley Charity is helping to provide a specialist service, for people suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It is also the setting for the first Flock Project.

The funds provide access to an urban garden space  youth charity Roots and Shoots in the centre of London where people can come together in a safe and healing environment to connect with nature to support their recovery.

Clinical Psychologist, Dr Gemma Eke, and Horticultural and Integrative Psychotherapist, Myriam Sarens, manage the project.

‘We try to explain things in ways which we hope are applicable to people from different cultures. Slowly, through meeting one another, people build an attachment to us, to one another and the environment.

Service users are encouraged to return weekly for the Monday gardening and community sessions. ‘We explain how gardening and keeping active can help with depression,’ says Gemma. ‘But rather than just talking about it in theory, which is what you might do in a traditional therapy session, we’re then going out and actually doing it.’

She adds, ‘We want to inspire other NHS Trusts and voluntary organisations to consider running projects like ours, using nature and natural environments, particularly with refugee and asylum seeker populations.’

Southwark Integrated Psychological Therapy Team at South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust recognised the need to expand its existing project for treating asylum seekers and refugees suffering from PTSD. The team also wanted to inspire other NHS trusts and voluntary organisations to set up projects of their own.