In numbers

The programme combines benefits from time in nature and the outdoors with professional therapy to improve mental health and wellbeing

SCOTTISH CHARITY Venture Trust is launching Scotland’s first dedicated outdoor therapy programme. Supporting Scotland’s vulnerable young people (aged 16-25) and ex-service personnel, the service seeks to ‘harness the power of the outdoors’ by delivering therapy in urban outdoor and green spaces such as parks, community gardens, woodlands, beaches or local hills.

Research from the Scottish Association for Mental Health (SAMH) highlights almost half of people with mental health problems in Scotland felt they did not get care or treatment because of the pandemic. As well as this, The Princes Trust’s annual Youth Index, published in January, noted that 25% of young people feel “unable to cope with life” since the start of the pandemic, increasing to 40% for those not in work, education or training.

Venture Trust’s clinical manager Andy Hardie said: “The benefits of the outdoors for mental health have been long understood but little utilised in a clinical sense. Whilst we value traditional approaches to therapy, we recognise that for some individuals the usual offer of support in clinical settings can seem daunting.”

Tejesh Mistry, Director of External Affairs for Venture Trust, announced the service would roll out in the Edinburgh and Lothians area but the aim was to increase the reach when further funding is secured.

Find out more at veturetrust.org.uk