Evidence

For people with lower socioeconomic status, a high density of street trees 100m from the home significantly reduced the probability of being prescribed antidepressants.

This project aimed to describe current provision and to clarify what works, for whom and under what existing processes, in the delivery of nature-based therapeutic programmes for mental health conditions. It was a detailed project with four work streams and is a useful in-depth review of green social prescribing initiatives for those looking to dive deeper into the research.

This document provides a global overview of the way that people depend on and receive benefits from forests and woodlands.

This review sets out the research underlining the importance of creating more, bigger, better and joined-up green spaces, especially near to where people live, and to address inequalities. It identifies the role of social interventions such as media campaigns to increase awareness of green spaces, or holding community events in a natural environment. Finally, it reviews the wider health and wellbeing role of green infrastructure, for example in nature recovery, addressing climate change and mitigating noise and air pollution.

This report exposes how widespread green space deprivation is, how it is an issue of racial injustice as well as concern from a public health perspective, and what needs to be done to fix the problem. It also showcases great examples of community led initiatives.

This study reviewed the literature on the effect of urban trees on human health. It found important health outcomes associated with people’s exposure to trees: harm reduction (e.g. pollution, heat exposure, etc.); capacity restoration (e.g. mental health, stress reduction, etc.); and capacity building (e.g. birth outcomes, active living, etc.).

This guide supports people in mental health inpatient settings to start a walking group, based on experience from pilot projects in eight sites in the English NHS. Green walking is simply about moving through a natural space. It can improve patients’ progress during hospitalisation and their recovery and rehabilitation, and provide benefits for staff.

This study explored common constraints to green prescribing faced by GPs and nature-based organisations. It found that the availability of nature-based organisations could be improved in more deprived areas. It also non-comprehensively mapped the distribution of green prescribing initiatives across the UK.

This ONS research demonstrates that Black people are four times as likely to have no outdoor space at home as White people, and one in eight British households has no garden.

This guide provides inspiration for seasonal activities to connect with nature for the improvement of mental health all year round.