New green spaces to improve mental health and wellbeing in Cheshire East

Cheshire East’s Green Spaces for Wellbeing

The Cheshire East Public Health Team has invested £375,000 in a two-year ‘Green Spaces for Wellbeing’ initiative, which aims to encourage outdoor activity, meeting new people and finding new interests.

Green Spaces for Wellbeing is a partnership between public health, Ansa – the Council’s green spaces maintenance provider – Everybody Health and Leisure, the voluntary sector, and the NHS.

Activities available through the initiative include wellbeing walks, buggy walks, gardening, habitat management, mindfulness and yoga. These are held across 12 sessions, with participants able to choose the activities that match their interests and availability.

Nature can do wonders for the mind and body, and the friendly, welcoming groups can help participants to build their confidence, meet people locally, discover different interests, practice mindfulness, learn new skills and give back to their local community.

The activities are free of charge for adults aged 18 and over, and people can be referred through a social prescribing link worker or self-refer via the Everybody Health and Leisure website.

Initial feedback and evaluation suggest very positive results for those who have completed their programmes, and a more detailed evaluation will be completed at the end of year two (March 2025).