Research and Reports > Flourish: Nature Recovery for People Living with Severe Mental Illness

Flourish: Nature recovery for people living with severe mental illness. Time outside in nature is one of life’s simple pleasures.

The aim of our user-led evaluation report and zine is to enable people living with severe mental illness to directly inform how NHS mental health services incorporate natural recovery into their services.

In Autumn 2023 we were commissioned by Heads On, official NHS charity for Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (SPFT), to undertake user-led research into nature recovery for people with SMI. The research was intended to directly inform how NHS mental health services incorporate natural recovery into their services, including the new Combe Valley Hospital in East Sussex.

Flourish: Nature recovery for people living with severe mental illness is the result of that commission and was funded by Natural England, Heads On and Recovery Partners.

This report summarises the findings of the research undertaken by peer support specialists during the period December 2023-February 2024, with 51 people who have lived experience as mental health hospital inpatients in Sussex within the last 10 years.

Accompanying this report is a ‘zine by a lived experience artist who took part in a 1-2-1 interview and focus groups, and who contributed the images for this report.

Thank you everyone who took part and to Andrew Voyce who created the zine.