Gardening helps children deal with trauma

The health benefits of gardening have been highlighted by a Manchester school, which is using it as therapy for children from troubled spots around the world.

According to the Manchester Evening News, St Peters School, Gorton, has been using specialist therapeutic gardeners to help refugees from war zones such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Congo deal with trauma.

More than £20,000 has been invested into transforming a courtyard into a large greenhouse and shed since the project was launched six years ago, with over 70 people currently involved in the scheme.

According to gardener Simon Read, the plants are helping traumatised children to calm down, as well as improve their behaviour.

"Coming here is a positive way for them to learn. We don’t tell them what to do. They choose for themselves what to plant or what to look after and we give them guidance," he told the newspaper.

Meanwhile, more than 100 applications are now available for gardeners to use on various smartphones.