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NatureMind Summit
Green Social Prescribing
NatureMind is the key platform for exploration into latest research & best practice in nature-based social prescribing for physical & mental health in the UK.
It is an annual non-profit summit coordinated by Mind Over Mountains & the University of Central Lancashire in collaboration with leading policy makers & practitioners in UK green social prescribing.
Speakers, panellists & workshop leaders are made up of some of the principal voices in this sector. The goal of the event is to enable continuing growth & development in the fields of green social prescribing, & nature- and activity-based therapies.
The 4th NatureMind UK Green Social Prescribing Summit - titled 'Green Social Prescribing - Scaling Up What Works' - will take place on Thursday 12 June 2025 at Towneley Hall, Burnley.
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An all-day nonprofit event for commissioners, practitioners, academics, social prescribers, policymakers & all those with an interest in the power of nature & physical activity in supporting mental health.
An exploration into latest research & best practice in nature-based social prescribing; via presentations, workshops, discussion & practical demonstrations, indoors & out.
The 2024 NatureMind report paints an encouraging picture of green social prescribing – but it also outlines important recommendations for its future growth & development.
To reach its full potential, green social prescribing needs to be supported by better approaches to outcome measurement & training, & a renewed focus on communities and their connection to nature. But most of all, effective scaling of green social prescribing now requires the meaningful investment that can help to unlock the significant benefits that we know can accrue, both to patients & a struggling NHS.
This report is being shared widely & we as a collective are seeking to influence policy through it. We encourage you to share it widely too. View report online here.
This year’s summit will pick up where this report leaves off – and will be entitled “Green Social Prescribing: Scaling Up What Works”. It will take place at Towneley Hall in Burnley.
We will be looking to identify the levers that will enable a rapid scaling up of the provision that works well – provision that delivers great outcomes for individuals, & which reduces the burden on our NHS.
This evidence base review - to be featured at NatureMind 2025 - summarises the academic evidence that underpins the Mind Over Mountains approach, and in particular the associations between the elements of that model (nature, physical activity, human connection, mindfulness, and professional coaching and counselling) and mental health recovery. It also briefly explores the potential implications of the charity’s approach in tackling health inequalities. Where appropriate, this review also seeks to highlight gaps in current literature and evidence. View report online here.
From the authors - Dr Trisha Chauhan, Amy Edwards-Smith, Isabel Goodall, Dr Anna Kenyon, Dr Robynne Wadsworth & Richard Whall; “The integrated model delivered by Mind Over Mountains is supported well by the available, and growing, body of academic evidence. Each of the components of that model (nature, physical activity, human connection, mindfulness and coaching and counselling) can be seen, through the literature, to promote mental health and wellbeing in a variety of powerful ways. We look forward to continuing to work with the charity, and with other nature-based providers and practitioners, to demonstrate the effectiveness of these innovative approaches to mental health and wellbeing”.
CEO of the charity, Ian Sansbury, states: “We consider Mind Over Mountains to be a research- and evidence-backed mental health charity. It is really important for us to demonstrate that our programmes are supported by the very latest clinical and academic evidence and that they deliver the best possible outcomes for our participants.
But it is also a key part of our strategy to share what we know and what we learn in a way that can support the wider development of nature-based approaches and green social prescribing. We are massively indebted to the University of Central Lancashire and to all the individual contributors to this evidence base review for their huge contribution to this critically important sector”.
NatureMind Partners
