Gardening to be Prescribed by Doctors
Just a few miles from the glitz and glamour of the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, a new curative revolution is taking place.
Thrive, a charity that specialises in supports those who struggle with mental health issues, are using horticulture as a means of engagement and treatment. The project has been so successful; it is helping to convince senior doctors that ecotherapy should be prescribed to aid recovery from mental illness.
Recent NHS changes, which have handed treatment budgets to GPs, will encourage doctors to use such schemes. Reducing the £2bn bill spent on antidepressants is thought to be high on the agenda.
Sir Richard Thompson, of The Royal College of Physicians said;
“GPs should prescribe a course of gardening for people who come to them with depression. It would be a more cost effective way to treat some people rather than prescribe expensive drugs.”
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