Publish date: 10 February 2022
West London NHS Trust marked Children's Mental Health Week with a fun activity for local service users.
The theme this year is 'growing together' so the Trust teamed up with W6 Garden Centre in Hammersmith to raise awareness of children and young people's mental health.
The last two years have been very difficult for young people and many have struggled to navigate through the pandemic and its restrictions.
With this in mind, the Trust wanted to do something positive to boost young people's mental health.
The CAMHS team spoke with the local garden centre, which kindly invited a number of service users to a gardening demonstration, where they were each given seeds and a small pot.
Scarlett Kane, the garden centre’s supervisor, said: “I think it’s been really lovely and it was nice to see how enthusiastic everyone was about gardening.
“It was great to welcome everyone and see how much they got out of it.
“It’s amazing how quickly you can get lost in the process of gardening.
“I really enjoyed it and look forward to more sessions like this in the future.”
The garden centre and their suppliers Mr Fothergill’s have agreed to donate 150 seeds to CAMHS users in West London.
The Trust also marked Children’s Mental Health Week by sharing videos about CAMHS.
The videos explain what CAMHS is, how to get a referral and the process from start to finish.
You can watch the videos on the Trust’s Vimeo account here.
The Trust has also been highlighting Best for You a new digital platform launched by the NHS to connect young people and their families with the mental health support they need.
There’s interviews, art, blogs and tips all designed to help improve mental health and wellbeing.
You can find out more about Best For You here.