My guests in this episode are leading nature-based wellbeing opportunities for communities in South West England. They joined me for a fascinating conversation about how their services operate, some of the challenges they face and the wide-ranging impacts of being in green spaces.

Laura Tween is Director of Able Hands Together, a CIC based near Salisbury focussed on therapeutic farming for the benefit of the community and providing safe, accessible but life-changing long-term opportunities for adults who have learning disabilities, called “Co-Farmers”.

Roy Goddin is Founder of The Root Cause Project, a non-profit organisation supporting veterans and serving personnel in North Devon to rest, reflect, and enhance their wellbeing and mental health, using the restorative force of nature.

Marie-Claire Henon is Green Care Lead at Birdie’s Farm, Glastonbury’s Food & Regenerative Farming Centre which is a safe and impactful space for connection with others and educational opportunities to enhance the local area.

This episode has been commissioned as part of the Creative Health Associates Programme with the National Centre for Creative Health.

Links:

Able Hands Together

Root Cause Project

Bridies Farm

National Centre for Creative Health

National green social prescribing delivery capacity assessment: final report

Socials:

NCCH LinkedIn

Able Hands Together Instagram

Root Cause Instagram

@creativehealthstories

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During 2024, I started further developing my skills and experience in recording, producing and editing sound as part of a Develop Your Creative Practice (DYCP) grant from Arts Council England. I've been working with a range of organisations, professionals and participants who put health and wellbeing at the heart of their creative and cultural practices, to capture the stories and impact that being creative has on everyone involved.

The first in the series comes from Abbey Physic Community Garden in Faversham, Kent - where I live!

Abbey Physic Community Garden (APCG) is an inclusive, accessible community resource providing companionship, therapeutic activities, training and skill building for people with mental health issues and those who are socially isolated. It has over 400 members with between 70 and 95 people taking part in activities each week, including: gardening, art, poetry, singing, cooking, men's shed, and so much more!

In June 2024, the garden celebrated its 30th anniversary of supporting people with mental health issues. I was lucky enough to be able to capture some of the stories from people who have been involved in the garden from its inception, along with current staff, members and volunteers. I'm hugely grateful for them sharing and trusting me with their stories.

Suzanne Campbell, Manager of the garden says: "Wow, what an incredibly beautiful piece of work you have produced....You have absolutely captured the essence of the garden. It`s like you have used magic thread to weave together the many different life journeys /stories that bring people together at the garden. It`s wonderful., amazing and very emotional. Thank you."

Thank you to Jane Pitt and Kevin Grist who have been mentors in this project, supporting me in developing my technical audio and storytelling skills.

I hope you enjoy listening. If you'd like to commission an audio story about your organisation, project, participants or to bring learning and impact to life, get in touch.

Links

abbeyphysic.org

Socials

@abbeyphysic

@creativehealthstories

This episode was supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir Michael Marmot has been Professor of Epidemiology at University College London since 1985 and is Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity. He has led research groups on health inequalities for nearly 50 years and in 2000 he was knighted by Her Majesty The Queen, for services to epidemiology and the understanding of health inequalities. More recently, Marmot was appointed a Companion of Honour in recognition of his services to public health in the King’s 2023 New Year Honours.

In this episode, Sir Michael Marmot describes why he switched his medical focus to prevention and embarked on what has become a lifelong commitment to studying how social circumstances impact people's health. He explains what the social determinants of health are, and why they are fundamental to addressing health inequalities.

He talks through the recommendations he made in his landmark report ‘Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review)’ and shares some of the evidence, and his thoughts, on why the follow up ‘Health Equity in England: The Marmot Review 10 Years On’ showed that health inequalities in the UK increased during that period.

We go on to discuss why he thinks the arts, culture and creativity are important to live a life of meaning and purpose and how he wants them to be available to everyone in their everyday lives.

It was an honour and privilege to have this conversation.

Links:

The Institute of Health Equity

Fair Society, Healthy Lives (The Marmot Review)

Marmot Review 10 Years On

WHO Commission on Social Determinants of Health

The Health Gap: the challenge of an unequal world (Bloomsbury: 2015)

Status Syndrome (Bloomsbury: 2004).

Creative Health Review

Socials:

UCL Institute of Health Equity LinkedIn

Creative Health Stories socials:

Instagram: @creativehealthstories

LinkedIn: @LauraBaileyCreativeHealth

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.