We are raising money to install a sensory garden for our patients to use at the Bradgate Mental Health Unit (BMHU) and we need your help.
BMHU is an acute facility for adults with severe mental health conditions who come to us to get the treatment they need and start their road to recovery.
As part of this care, horticultural therapy sessions are provided in the hospital gardens to help facilitate recovery as well as educational and recreational opportunities including planting seeds and growing vegetables. The feedback from these sessions has been so positive and demonstrated the need for the garden to be further developed so the space can be best used to facilitate patients recovery.
Currently, only half of the garden can be used by patients to participate in activities as the other half is highly uneven and unusable. Our ambition is to develop this area and create a cocooning and safe space. We want to ensure that as many aspects of the garden as possible are accessible for all patients, with incorporated accessible pathways for wheelchair users, those with balance and postural challenges, reduce mobility, or risk of falls.
Therefore, we are seeking funding for the ‘Let’s get gardening project’ to use this space to create a sensory garden for patients to engage in recovery-focused activities, such as Tai Chi as well as providing a seating area for patients to socialise, relax and reflect. It will also include a sensory walkway made from several different materials like stones, logs, bark etc, designed for the patients to engage their senses whilst improving their balance and posture.
The sensory garden will support patients’ sensory integration with nature, provide an opportunity to explore nature and activate their vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile systems. These are fundamental ways that are central to helping mental health patients’ recovery.
Hard landscaping & sensory path | £10,000.00 |
Seating area | £5,000.00 |
Plants | £5,000.00 |
TOTAL | £20,000.00 |
We have raised to date a total of £5,000 through community fundraising and local donations but we still need to raise the remaining £15,000. Can you help us?
Your donation, whatever you can afford, will help us to grow our plans into reality.