BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine Podcast Green therapy for mental health, with Cathy Schofield
Feb 26, 2026
Cathy Schofield, Chief Allied Health Professional leading Bradford’s nature-based mental health initiatives. She describes allotment groups, canal and moor visits, VR nature for inpatients, biodiversity projects and partnerships that bring green and blue spaces into care. Short stories show patient enthusiasm, access challenges and efforts to make nature-based therapy routine in NHS mental health services.
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Green Therapy As An Integrated Mental Health Option
- Green therapy integrates access to parks, allotments, waterways and woodlands into mental health care as a therapeutic option.
- Cathy Schofield developed the idea with students, partnered with Natural England and funded a green therapy development worker to scale it in Bradford.
Patient Learned To Volunteer Through Canal Sessions
- A discharged inpatient who became depressed used Canal & River Trust talks as a goal and then began volunteering regularly.
- She now volunteers in schools and credits the canal sessions with rebuilding her confidence and recovery.
VR Brings Local Nature To Inpatient Wards
- Virtual reality headsets bring filmed local green spaces into inpatient wards to give patients who cannot leave the site sensory access to nature.
- Bradford used bespoke footage of Ilkley Moor and Bingley Five Rise locks and saw calming effects on dementia and acute wards.