We're excited to be starting our 6-week group programme in May, which will help you improve your mental, emotional and physical wellbeing through nature connection activities.
It's a small, closed group programme where you can build social connections and meet like-minded people whilst reconnecting with nature through a variety of activities. We accept self-referrals as well as referrals through GPs, mental health practitioners, social prescribers and support workers. For any questions or referrals please contact Seren on seren@breconmind.org.uk or 07949115724 Join us for two walk and talk sessions based in Brecon. These sessions are more informal than other Green Minds activities - it's not necessary to complete a referral form but booking onto the walk is still required. Hope to see you there!
Join Green Minds for our Spring programme starting in May.
We will be based at the tithe barn at Brecon Cathedral with opportuntites to explore some beautiful surrounding woodland and gardens. Our Spring / Summer programme will offer opportunties to try mindfulness and nature connection practices. Participants will also have the opportunity to explore their creativity through environmental art & craft activites and some guided nature writing inspired by our group walks and time spent outdoors together. For further information and to sign up for the programme please contact Seren: 07949115724 / seren@breconmind.org.uk "The Green Minds programme helped me to connect with others and deepen my own relationship with nature" "The Green Minds team were able to facilitate personal reflection and self development just perfectly" "The programme brought people together in a safe, non-judgemental way, giving us the permission to take time out and feel grounded again" The programme will be led by Green Minds facilitators Seren Berry and Ceri Hayes. For referrals and for further information please use the Contact form “Autumn days are for watching Join us for a stroll along an old rural byeway, enjoying glimpses of the Brecon Beacons and trees laden with autumn fruits and nuts. Meet at the Promenade car park in Brecon next to the boathire place at 10am. Bring a snack or sandwich and hot drink, and sturdy footwear and waterproofs as it may be muddy. Mostly flat terrain. Note there is a charge for parking your car here so bring £3 as loose change. Do bring a tuppaware or small berry basket for any foraging along the way.
Please use the contact page to find out more and book your place. Best wishes, The Green Minds team Green Minds community 'Branching Out' walks are a perfect opportunity to walk alongside other like minded folk and watch the seasons gradual shift throughout the year.
For our next walk, join Green Minds facilitator Ceri and our lovely volunteer Yvonne along the Mon & Brec canal on Thursday September 1st - 10am-1pm. For further info on where to meet and to book a place please email: jess.t@breconmind.org.uk The 'Branching Out' walks will include a variety of gentle routes and circulars of about an 1hr 30 in the Brecon area. Find out more about the walks HERE Dates for your diary - Autumn 2022 10am-1pm - Locations to be shared at least a week prior to each walk. Thursday September 1st Thursday September 15th Thursday September 29th Thursday October 27th Join us for a taster session on Thursday July 14th near Brecon.
Location to be shared on booking. For further details or to book a place please contact Jess: 07487 523991 or send an email Here As our six-month pilot programme 'Making Well' in partnership with the Fathom Trust draws to a close you can find out more about what we have been up to and the transformational effects of working with nature and green crafts. Huge thanks to all who braved the elements and joined us during our two 8-week autumn and winter programmes. You can find out more about the Fathom Trusts Green Prescribing study taking place due to be published this Spring by clicking the link below.
fathomtrust.com/stories/making-well-health-healing-through-green-crafts/ It was the perfect winter morning for the Green Minds gardening team to get planting the first Welsh heritage variety apple trees in our new community orchard area @breconcathedral
Today we planted a lovely Saint Cecilia, patron saint of music to help get us all singing ;-) Raised by John Basham & Sons from a Cox’s Orange Pippin, a popular garden tree across the border in the west of England too… A Brith Mawr of Newport origin from the 19th Century. Supplier Tom Adams fruit tree nursery believes that “brith mawr” means something like “speckled big” in Welsh? A once very popular variety in South Wales as both a sharp eater and reliable cooker… And one Pig Aderyn of St.Dogmael’s, Pembrokeshire origin … possibly Norman The top of a Pig Aderyn is said to look like a bird’s beak - “pig aderyn” in Welsh. This old Welsh variety can still be found growing at the Abbey of St.Dogmael said to be very popular with the monks as it makes an excellent cider ! Always a great feeling planting trees and we wish them well ! #greenmindsecotherapy #communitygardening #ecotherapy #communityorchard #welshappletrees #heritageappletrees #breconanddistrictmind Hear about our partnership with Brecon Cathedral during the 'A 1000 Years of Calm' community project, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. It's been such a fantastic experience for us and our gardening group members to be involved with the project and grow our garden spaces within the Cathedral grounds. Our garden is now flourishing and open to the public, as is the new heritage trail, featuring 15 items to look out for with QR codes linking you to some of the fascinating history and heritage on your very doorstep. "Brecon Cathedral is the site of an ancient Benedictine priory. It's now the site of a new project assisting with mental health, restoring vegetable and flower gardens for the public to enjoy where they might once have offered food and a place of peaceful contemplation for monks. These days, the Church has been working in partnership with the Brecon branch of the mental health organisation Mind, and volunteers under the direction of gardening therapist Jess Tanner have enjoyed seeing the fruits of their labour growing. Jonathan Thomas visits the garden and the wider project, 'A Thousand Years of Calm', telling the untold stories of the Cathedral's thousand year history and some of the people who once lived and worked in the vicinity. Jonathan talks to historian Sarah Ward-Clavier, and to Canon Residentiary, Rev Dr Mark Clavier, about the project and some of the hidden histories they have discovered in the trees and graveyard"
Click the link below to hear about our story on the 'All Things Considered' programme |