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Everything in the Sudbury garden is blooming lovely
A therapy courtyard garden at Sudbury Community Health Centre is now in full bloom, supporting patients to enhance their independence and quality of life. The award-winning project, created in an internal courtyard, is also a welcome resource for people who work in the building to have a break in the open air amongst flowers and plants.
The garden has been created and the initiative is led by health and social care occupational therapists (OTs) Lucie Johnson, Judy Kiddy and Mags Phillips. They are colleagues in the Sudbury integrated neighbourhood team (INT), a community service provided in partnership with Suffolk County Council (SCC).
Lucie Johnson, community clinical specialist OT with the West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (WSFT) said: “We are now in the second phase of this project, having run a pilot last Autumn, and are offering a six-week programme to patients who would get multiple benefits from this kind of activity. We have been very lucky to receive funding and grants, as well as great support from our community.”
WSFT OT Mags Phillips said: “Gardening means stretching, bending, reaching and balancing, in a way that makes the exercise more interesting. Being in a green space is so good for physical and mental health, and coming here offers people who may be isolated the chance to get outside and socialise.”
Judy Kiddy, an OT with SCC and part of the INT at Sudbury, added: “Gardening is therapeutic as well as very relaxing, and we are seeing the effects of even a little bit of work going a long way.”
Brian, 87 years-old, said he found attending sessions in the garden had helped him. “I look after my wife who has multiple illnesses – we live day-to-day. I started getting dizzy and collapsed, but I’ve improved with the exercises they’ve given me,” he said, adding he was a keen gardener when he was younger.
The team is supported by WSFT volunteers, including Alison, who comes along each week to prepare the space for the sessions, and undertake general garden tasks. She said: “We have a really nice rapport going on now. There are no expectations, we’re having a chat, having a giggle, getting our hands dirty. They are loving it.”
Melanie, who has physiotherapy for chronic pain said: “I love coming here and getting hints and tips for my own garden. You’re talking to other people and focussing on something. The fresh air makes you feel so much better, and takes my mind off the pain. It gets me outside into this nice, calming space.”
Paul, who is a wheelchair user, said: “This is most definitely helpful, it’s a lovely space now.”
Last year, the project won the Royal College of Occupational Therapy (RCOT) Institute of Social Psychiatry Award, and the Constance Owens Liverpool Service Development Award, which included grants of £3,000. The team also received a grant of £1,129 from the Friends of West Suffolk Hospital charity, which allowed them to set up the project, support from the My WiSH charity and recently from a social prescribing fund.
The project has garnered further support from the community, including volunteers from Stour Valley Men’s Shed, who came along to dig over the ground and put two tractor tyres in place as a giant planter. There have also been donations of hot drinks from McDonalds, a brown bin from Babergh District Council, a voucher from local garden centre Perrywood, and bulbs from Manchester firm J.Parker Dutch Bulbs. Community equipment provider Medequip has recently donated a perching stool.
Lisa Enright, lead OT for WSFT adult services, said: “Achieving these awards and donations reflects the health and wellbeing principles that this group is founded on and will help with the progression of this worthwhile cause for people in our community.”
Watch this video and find out how the garden has been developed and meet some of the people who have developed it, support it, and are benefiting from it.
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