What is Eco-in-Mind?
Spending time in green space or bringing nature in to your everyday life can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing.
The project provides practical support by our trained staff and volunteers to those with mental health problems.
Our aim is to improve the quality of life experienced by our participants. We achieve this by supporting them to build confidence, self-esteem and resilience whilst connecting with nature and other people.
Benefits of eco-therapy
Do you love spending time doing things like growing food or flowers? Being outdoors can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing. It can:
- Improve your mood, reduce stress/anger.
- Help you take time-out and feel relaxed.
- Improve your physical health.
- Improve your confidence and self-esteem.
- Help you make new connections.
- Provide peer support.
Our Group Sessions
We deliver an ecotherapy based group at 2 locations across Dorset. The sites are in Dorchester and Weymouth.
We offer weekly sessions on Monday and Thursday mornings in Dorchester and Wednesday mornings in Weymouth. There may be other one-off sessions available too.
Eco-in-Mind offers outdoors support from our facilitator and volunteers to help grow and tend to a number of allotment plots.
We can provide bespoke programmes for groups or charities that could benefit from this service. In addition, we offer team-building days and/or projects for companies to work on the allotments.
The sessions run all year and the sort of activities you can expect include:
- Sowing seeds and planting fruit and vegetables
- Digging, weeding and pruning
- Planning new spaces
- Upcycling pallets into furniture
- Creating wildlife habitats
Who can attend?
The aim of the service is to improve mental wellbeing through eco-therapy and to build and strengthen self-esteem, confidence and resilience in a peer-support environment.
Anyone with mild to moderate mental health and wellbeing challenges can access the service. If you are interested in participating, please email: ecoinmind@dorsetmind.uk
Volunteer roles:
Please check our volunteer vacancies for positions available at Eco-in-Mind – follow this link.
How did project come about?
Dorset Mind, in partnership with Meyers Estate Agents, have created the project. The project was the idea of founders Mark and Claire Meyers as a result of lived experience in their family. They wanted to create a community project that would inspire people and bring them together to benefit the local area.
We became partners to bring our experience delivering mental health support groups together with their vision to start Eco-in-Mind
