GREEN GYMS AND MENTAL HEALTH
Presented by
Calum Macintosh – Green Gym Development Manager
and Bill Upham – Deputy Director
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Mission & Vision
Mission:
“To create a more sustainable future by inspiring people & improving places”
Vision:
“A better environment where people are valued, included & involved”
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Three Key Themes
• Connecting people with places
• Building healthy and sustainable communities
• Increasing peoples lifeskills
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WHO claims that depression
Mental illness affects 1 in 6
of the adult population
1 in 5 under 16yr olds have
a mental disorder
By 2020 this will be the
second most prevalent
cause of ill health
The total cost to the
economy is £75 billion
Mental Illness
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The scale of the problem
Estimates relating to the prevalence of mental distress in Britain vary from 1 in 4 to
1 in 6 people.
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around 300 people out of 1,000 will experience mental health problem
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every year in Britain 230 of these will visit a GP
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102 of these will be diagnosed as having a mental health problem
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24 of these will be referred to a specialist psychiatric service
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6 of these 1000 will become inpatients in psychiatric hospitals
Figures from 15 years ago !
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Depression
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Depression occurs in 1 in 10 adults in
Britain at any one time
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1 in 20 people at any one time will suffer
major or ‘clinical’ depression
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Women are more prone to mixed anxiety
and depressive disorder than men
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Prevalence of mental health problems - by gender (people aged
between 16 to 64 years - all figures are percentages)
Diagnosis and rate
Female
Male
All
(past week)
1993
2000
1993
2000
1993
2000
Mixed anxiety and depression
10.1
11.2
5.5
7.2
7.8
9.2
Generalised anxiety disorder
5.3
4.8
4.0
4.6
4.6
4.7
Depressive episode
2.8
3.0
1.9
2.6
2.3
2.8
Phobias
2.6
2.4
1.3
1.5
1.9
1.9
Obsessive compulsive disorder
2.1
1.5
1.2
1.0
1.7
1.2
Panic disorder
1.0
0.7
0.9
0.8
1.0
0.7
Any neurotic disorder
19.9
20.2
12.6
14.4
16.3
17.3
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Health Prevention UK
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70% of UK population deemed inactive
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Inactivity doubles the chances of a heart attack
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Regular exercise reduces anxiety/depression and increases stamina,
confidence and well
being
Every adult should accumulate 30 minutes of moderate intensity
physical activity most and preferably every day of the week (European
and US recommendations)
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Ecotherapy
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regular physical activity helps prevent/manage
some mental health problems
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particularly effective with mild or moderate
depression
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Includes all forms of “green exercise”
and
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environmental art
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Calories used in
different activities
Sitting
Raking
Cycling
Weeding
Walking
Aerobics
Tree Planting
Digging
Felling Trees
Running
0
2
4
Kcal/min
6
8
10
McArdle,Katch and Katch, 1996
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The Green Gym
Promoting health, fitness and the
environment
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What is a Green Gym?
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Practical activity - 3 hours once a week benefits both participant and
environment
Partnership between BTCV, health agency (e.g. ARC) and others
NHS , e.g. GPs, NHS Trusts, LHBs, endorse the Green Gym
Health and Safety Guidelines are followed
Sustainable exit – the activity continues
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Green Gyms
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Improve mental and physical well being
Create opportunities for social contact
Reduce stress and anxiety
Gets people out into the fresh air – “biophilia”
Help people to know more about their community and
environment - “topophilia”
Teach new skills
Provide training opportunities
Improve confidence
“It’s a great way to get fit, meet new people and gain
confidence whilst making a positive contribution to the local
environment.”
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National Evaluation of Green Gym 2003-2007
Prof. Paul Yerrell School of Health and Social Care, Oxford Brookes
University, March 2008.
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99% said that the Green Gym benefited their health and selfconfidence
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94% led to new skills and training
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92% enabled to make contribution to the environment
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Mental Health Benefits
“I am retired…I had cancer and the
radiotherapy really knocked me
out….although I joined for the physical
health side…I have found that it has
helped the mental health side…I got pretty
depressed and it helps a lot.”
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Social Benefits
“Exercise is secondary for me…it is more
the social side: meeting different people.”
“It’s good to come out and meet people a
really friendly crowd..very welcoming”
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INDIVIDUAL
COMMUNITY
HEALTH
ENVIRONMENT
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Who could be involved?
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People with mild to moderate mental health problems, such as
depression or anxiety, who are using primary health care services
e.g. their GP or GP referred counselling.
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People with a diagnosis of severe or enduring mental health
illness, such as bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia, who have
used secondary care services, such as hospitals. We should aim to
involve this group at the point where they are relatively ‘well’ and
living in the community, but could use our activities to help rebuild
their self-confidence and social connections.
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People with experience of mental distress who may not be using
health or social care services.
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OBESITY
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Aims:
Results
To improve the health and wellbeing of Improved mental health of volunteers
people with experience of mental
Improved physical health of volunteers
distress
Increased social interaction of
volunteers
Increased skills
To enable people with experience of
mental distress to increase their skills Increased self-confidence
and self-confidence
Volunteers take on new challenges
and responsibilities
To lessen stigma and discrimination
Mental health service users integrated
towards mental health service users
into local community groups
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Participant’s journey
Referral, Initial meeting and induction
1st month review
Our intervention to make it possible for people
with mental distress to succeed
Staff training – an introduction to mental distress and
the conditions it includes. Include how to ID issues or
problems
Participant able to demonstrate a technique to a
volunteer joining the group
Participant given responsibility for 1 week for
refreshments, or maintaining tools
Coaching of the individual above and beyond that of
another volunteer
Informal training in these simple tasks to ensure their
confidence is not knocked by failing to do them well
Participant to give a site safety or tool safety talk
at the beginning of one session
Participant to accept long term responsibility for
one or more of the following: tools talk, site safety
talk, preparing refreshments, preparing the
practical tasks programme leaflet / website
entries, any other useful role thought up by the
participant
Participant to accept Key Volunteer status
Coaching the participant
Informal training in these simple tasks to ensure their
confidence is not knocked by failing to do them well
Celebration of volunteer’s achievement in accepting
responsibility
Ensure it is on their CV, and rewarded with
merchandise such as fleece etc
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Families and Inequality
Mental ill-health is:
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Greater among children in lone parent families (16 %) than among
those in two parent families (8%)
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And in families with neither parent working (20%) compared with those
in which both parents worked (8%)
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17% of children whose parent had no educational qualifications had a
mental disorder
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Only 4% of children where the parent had a degree level qualification
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The Family
Employment Initiative
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Designed to engage families in targeted areas using local green
space as a catalyst to economic activity
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Provides skills building, training, motivation and mentoring,
volunteer career paths
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A cross-sector approach to addressing skills and labour market
gaps, e.g. collaborative work between employment opportunities
and health sectors
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Includes work with GPs and primary care providers
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Creating Sustainable Health and Wellbeing
The Family
Employment Initiative
GREEN EXERCISE – “THE NATURAL HEALTH SERVICE”
Green Exercise activities include Green Gyms, walking, cycling,
collective use of allotments
Tackles ill-health as a barrier to economic activity
Increases family and community cohesion through:
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recreational activities
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sports
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socialisation
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relaxation
“The family that plays together, stays together”
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The Green Gym
Promoting health, fitness and the environment
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