NHS staff being trained to use outdoors for treating patients (www.bbc.co.uk)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Healthcare professionals are being trained to use nature in treating people with poor mental health, it has been announced.

Natural England said it was funding courses so NHS staff from across Sussex could learn how to work in outdoor settings.

It comes as less than half the population say they've been to the countryside or a local park recently, according to government statistics, external.

"The importance of open spaces cannot be underestimated," said Sarah Davies, Natural England's principal adviser for partnerships in Sussex and Kent.

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[-] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

I'm gonna prescribe you 5 minutes of touch grass

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

I guess they can add "go outside" to their usual repertoire of "come back in 6 months"

[-] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

Obviously this is brilliant, but one sentence made me a little sad that this isn’t obvious to a lot of people:

One senior nurse from the county, who took part in the training, said they "never realised the true impact outdoors can have on an individual and team level".

It says a lot about the state of, well, everything.

this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2025

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