Michael Gove's 25 Year Environment Plan
Michael Gove's 25 Year Environment Plan
On January 11th 2018, the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Michael Gove MP, published a 150-page Policy Paper on the Government’s 25 Year Plan for the Environment, with an entire chapter devoted to ‘Connecting people with the environment to improve mental health and wellbeing’ (Chapter 3). Read here. The document sets out a ‘Natural Environment for Health and Wellbeing' programme - a cross-government three-year programme focused on supporting local authorities, health organisations, health professionals, teachers and planners in promoting the natural environment as a pathway to good health and wellbeing.
Key pledges include:
“We will scope out how we could connect people more systematically with green space to improve mental health, using the natural environment as a resource for preventative and therapeutic purposes. This will be in line with the Prevention Concordat for Better Mental Health and support the Government’s new commitments on children’s mental health.”
“Our ambition includes encouraging mental health service providers to explore the potential offered by environmental therapies and doing more to spread the word about the benefits of nature. The Government will promote collaboration between the health and environment sectors, at national and local level.”
“We will consider how NHS mental health providers in England can establish new working arrangements with environmental voluntary sector organisations to offer appropriate therapies – such as gardening, outdoor exercise and care farming – in natural settings to people with mild to moderate mental health conditions and who may be struggling to overcome loneliness and isolation.”
Mental health practitioners from West London NHS Trust complete training with Dose of Nature at Pensford Field, Kew to deliver 10-week nature prescriptions for psychosis recovery, backed by a new LSE trial.
A landmark 2.5-year study by the London School of Economics (LSE) proves that Dose of Nature prescriptions significantly reduce anxiety, depression, and loneliness while offering high value for money.
We are delighted to share that the Chimo Trust has made a substantial new grant to support the next stage of Dose of Nature’s development, with a particular focus on expanding access for young people experiencing mental health challenges. We first began working with Chimo Trust in 2022, and from the outset they recognised both the urgency of the mental health crisis facing young people and the potential for nature-based interventions to play a meaningful role alongside existing services. At Dose of Nature, we believe that many people fall into the gap between early emotional distress and the threshold for specialist NHS support. Our nature prescriptions are designed to offer an accessible, non-stigmatising and evidence-based intervention that helps people reconnect — with themselves, with others and with the natural world. Over recent years, we have continued to build the evidence base for this approach, including through a randomised controlled trial conducted with the London School of Economics and Political Science. Our outcomes have consistently demonstrated levels of recovery and improvement that outperform average national talking therapy benchmarks, while delivering support in a way that feels more human, preventative and accessible. This new funding from Chimo Trust will support the development of our partnership model, enabling us to work alongside organisations across the UK to deliver Dose of Nature prescriptions for young people in both clinical and community settings. The aim is not only to expand access, but also to help build a scalable model that can support earlier intervention and long-term wellbeing in more communities. The timing of this support is particularly important. The recent interim report from the UK Government’s review into young people’s mental health highlighted the growing need for “earlier, less intensive and more accessible forms” of support beyond specialist clinical services. We believe nature-based interventions can play an important role in that future — especially when they are evidence-based, clinically informed and delivered through trusted community partnerships. We are hugely grateful to Chimo Trust for their continued belief in our work and for helping us take this next step toward making nature-based mental health support more widely available to the young people who need it most.