Case studies

Participants from M&S Head Office gathered one sunny Spring afternoon to work an allotment as a team-building away day. We weeded, pruned, tidied, watered vegetables, harvested and later sat together with a hot brew to reflect on the work. Participants talked of feeling invigorated, glad to break from the desk, forged new connections, where work ideas were hatched, professional friendships built. They reported feeling satisfied, happier, less stressed and more engaged with their team. 

A group of eight refugees met weekly at the charity’s HQ garden to undertake therapeutic horticulture blended with psycho-social support. Across the year each brought their experiences of torture, dislocation, poverty and asylum into the garden where we worked with gardening, nature-based metaphors and the cycles of nature to support recovery. Gradually, each found strength, a path to recovery, new purpose and meaning in their lives through the work.