Doctors in Scotland can prescribe nature

That's great news Harpo, only problem is that it isn't really very "new", and that report is full of inaccurate statements.
Since October 5, doctors in Shetland, Scotland have been authorized to prescribe nature to their patients. It's thought to be the first program of its kind in the U.K., and seeks to reduce blood pressure, anxiety, and increase happiness for those with diabetes, a mental illness, stress, heart disease, and more.
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There have been calls for this for many years, and since October the NHS has allowed Doctors to do this everywhere, not only in Shetland.

Secondly, it is hardly the "first program of its kind in the UK." There are many different programs of its kind in the UK. It is simply that Doctors weren't allowed to officially prescribe them. That doesn't mean that they didn't advise patients to take part in them.

One of the first projects was the Sonning Common Green Gym. The Green Gym was the idea of local GP, Dr. William Bird, and it was the very first group he set up with BTCV (now TCV) in 1998. There are now hundreds of Green Gyms in the UK, all based upon the Sonning Common model. Dr Bird received an MBE in 2011 in recognition of this work.

I help to run Penge Green Gym:
Penge Green Gym | Community Gardening Volunteers | Friends of Winsford Gardens
Penge Green Gym (@GreenGymPenge) on Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/PengeGreenGym
We have been getting referrals from local mental health charities pretty much since we began in 2011. We have been running as a community group, independent of TCV since 2013.

TCV have been especially active in recent years to get the NHS to prescribe "green exercise" as an alternative to drugs, so this result is a great success for them.

There are also "Walking for Health" groups, "Men in Sheds" groups and lots of similar groups doing similar things.

I really don't understand how journalists can get away with writing stories without doing any research first. We aren't allowed to talk about politics, otherwise I'd really go off, so far on a tangent about this, that I'd never come back again.
 
hopewrites said:
how does one go about setting up a Green Gym?
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You can contact TCV Green Gym from The Conservation Volunteers - Exercise to make a difference

I didn't really mean to create an advertisement though. There are other organisations and charities with a similar ethos: Thrive, Mind, RSPB and the Wildlife Trusts through to Care Farming UK and the Wilderness Foundation. Also the University of Essex lay claim to have invented 'Green Exercise' in 2003 (but that is four years following William Bird's first Green Gym.)
 
It sounds like the sort of thing that would get traction in the town I'm moving to :)
 
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Lots of studies that have found that Birdwatching improves your mental health too. A simple web search will bring up pages of articles and science papers, but there are couple of books that I've heard are good too (haven't read them myself) This is one:

Bird Therapy: Amazon.co.uk: Joe Harkness: 9781783528981: Books

Buy Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness (ISBN: 9781783528981) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.
www.amazon.co.uk
 
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