When we began our study on Green Social Prescribing (GSP) for ethnically diverse communities in Hull and York, our intention was to better understand how nature‑based activities might support wellbeing, address barriers to engagement, and strengthen pathways into community‑led support. What unfolded was a profound illustration of the relational, cultural and contextual factors that shape participation in GSP.
This project was co‑led by myself, a Clinical Psychologist and Researcher at Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust, and Anthony Hurd from HEY Smile Foundation, with academic leadership and supervision from Dr Maureen Twiddy at Hull University (Health Sciences). Together with six community organisations in Hull and York (Welcome House, Bora Shabaa, BAMEEN, HACA, York St John Community allotments, Solidarity CiC) we carried out a mixed‑methods evaluation exploring how GSP was accessed, experienced, and understood by people from ethnically diverse, migrant, refugee and asylum‑seeking backgrounds.
Building Safety Through Community Leadership
The GSP activities delivered, gardening, walking groups and outdoor exercise, were facilitated by organisations embedded within the local communities. These groups were trusted not only because they provided practical access to nature, but because they understood the cultural, social and emotional contexts shaping people's lives.
Participants consistently reported that they learned about GSP through informal networks, such as WhatsApp groups, friends, family and local community events. This stood in contrast to traditional healthcare‑led referral pathways, which played no meaningful role in connecting people to activities.
The community organisations offered more than structured programmes; they created safe, culturally familiar and socially cohesive spaces. As Severine, one of the activity leads from Bora Shabaa Hull, expressed:
“Delivering the GSP has been one of the most meaningful experiences of my work… As someone who came to the UK as a refugee, I bring lived experience to this role, and the programme supported me personally as much as it supported the people I work with.”
The development of trust and connection formed a crucial foundation for engagement. Participants described feeling welcomed, understood and able to take part without fear of judgement, an essential condition for wellbeing interventions involving people who may have faced discrimination, displacement or trauma.
Collective Response to Grief and Loss
During the course of the programme, one of the GSP groups experienced the sudden death of a young mother who had previously participated in their activities. While I was not personally involved in this specific group context, our community partners and members of the wider research team reflected deeply on its impact.
Severine described the community’s response:
“Her passing deeply affected her family, her friends, and many of the women in the programme. In that difficult moment, I witnessed the strength and compassion of our community as people came together to comfort one another, share memories, and offer emotional and practical support.”
Lauren Beadle (Bora Shabaa), who worked to support the data collection, noted:
“Grief entered a space that had been one of comfort and growth. Yet what followed was a powerful reminder of the strength within this community… The support was instinctive and genuine.”
The nature‑based setting appeared to support this collective process. People described how being outdoors offered a quieter, gentler environment in which to reflect, sit alongside others, and navigate emotion without the pressure to verbalise it.
This incident highlighted an aspect of GSP that goes beyond conventional wellbeing frameworks: the capacity of community‑led nature-based activities to hold both celebration and sorrow, and to function as a locus for shared care during times of acute stress.
Understanding Wellbeing Beyond Standard Measures
Although the quantitative findings showed modest changes on standard measures such as the ONS4, the qualitative data revealed much richer narratives about the lived experience of wellbeing.
Participants described:
- Relief from the confinement of hotel or shared accommodation
- Reconnection with cultural heritage through food growing and outdoor activity
- Opportunities for children and families to spend time together safely
- Meaningful social contact that reduced isolation
- Experiences of calm, sensory engagement and psychological release in natural settings
These reflections indicate that the wellbeing benefits of GSP extend far beyond traditional metrics. For many, GSP provided moments of autonomy, cultural affirmation, emotional regulation and relational belonging factors which may not map neatly onto numerical scales but are central to lived wellbeing.
Reflections on Learning and Collaboration
This project reinforced the importance of community‑led, culturally attuned approaches to health and wellbeing. It also highlighted the critical role of cross-sector collaboration: the expertise of community leaders, the practical experience of delivery partners like HEY Smile Foundation, and the academic guidance and methodological rigour provided by Dr Maureen Twiddy.
Working alongside these partners underscored the value of:
- listening closely to lived experience
- recognising multiple forms of expertise
- adapting research approaches to cultural and linguistic needs
- embedding trust and collaboration at every stage
The study demonstrated that effective GSP is not simply about providing access to nature it is about providing access through relationships that are safe, trusted and grounded in community knowledge.
Closing Reflection
Academic outputs distil complex experiences into structured findings, but behind each statistic in this study stood a person, a family, and a community navigating both adversity and resilience. This work showed that nature is not a passive backdrop to wellbeing it is an active, meaningful resource that helps people connect, reflect, and support one another.
The insights gained through our collaborative research illuminate the profound ways that GSP can shape wellbeing, belonging and collective strength.