MY GARDEN LIFE Psychotherapist and author Sue Stuart-smith
Psychotherapist and author Sue Stuart-smith hopes that the new-found appreciation for gardening will lead to horticultural therapy being seen as a priority for mental health
“GARDENING BRINGS US INTO THE MOMENT – IT’S A MINDFUL ACTIVITY THAT’S HELPFUL FOR COMBATING DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY”
Q Where did your passion for gardening originate?
In my mid twenties I married [the acclaimed garden designer] Tom Stuart-smith and we began creating a garden together around our home ‘The Barn’ in Hertfordshire. I was new to gardening at that stage. I loved beautiful plants but regarded tasks like weeding as a bit of a chore. That changed a few years later when I started growing herbs in a little plot we created for me to experiment in.
Q How do you and Tom influence each other’s work?
In lots of different ways, for sure! Tom is a very knowledgeable plantsman as well as a designer. I’m always asking him questions about plants. But gardening is also a shared intellectual territory. Over the years, we have spent many evenings discussing the different ways that mind and garden interact and how, for example, people respond to different spaces.
Q It has become clear how gardening benefits mental health. Which interest came first, gardening or psychiatry?
The two developed alongside each other. Gardening can help mental health in many different ways – both consciously and unconsciously. These range from the direct influence of green nature on our nervous systems to more complex emotional effects. For example, working with the cycle of life in the garden can be helpful following an experience of trauma or loss. At the same time, the feeling of achievement that arises through working with nature’s creativity is empowering.
Q Horatio’s Garden that Tom designed for the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital in Stanmore is due to be opening in September. Can you tell us a bit about this?
Tom has designed two distinct gardens for this site. One is based around a garden room and will provide a social space that connects closely to the unit. The other is more private and contemplative. It is planted like a birch woodland and contains two raised fountains as well as three timber-framed pods where patients can rest and feel protected.
Q What’s the most surprising discovery you made when researching your book?
I interviewed people from a range of mental health gardening projects, including prisoners, veterans and at-risk youth, as well as people suffering from depression, anxiety and addiction. The most unexpected result of my questions was not one single thing but rather the scope of gardening to help people across the lifespan who were struggling with such different issues. For example, prisoners who are taught to grow are less likely to reoffend and kids who get soil on their hands are more likely to stay in education. My grandfather was taken prisoner of war in 1915 in Turkey. Having endured years of captivity, he spent 12 months on a horticultural rehabilitation scheme in 1920. This was a turning point in his recovery and he developed a lifelong passion for gardening as a result.
Q What should we all be aiming to do right now?
Isolation and social distancing have disrupted our social supports, which are vital to mental health and we need to focus on maintaining them. The rise of home-working has made us more dependent on technology and we are spending more time looking at screens than ever. This easily leads to mental fatigue. Spending time in green nature restores our mental focus. It also helps to alleviate stress and anxiety, as well as improving mood and reducing blood pressure.
Q What one thing do you wish every gardener knew?
Whatever size or kind of garden you have, the important thing is to take time to enjoy its loveliness and connect with the beauty of nature within it. If you seek perfection or too much tidiness you can end up falling into the trap of always ‘doing’ rather than simply ‘being’ in relation to the garden and all the different life forms that thrive within it.