York based charity receives almost £400,000 of National Lottery funding to give people with mental ill health more access to nature

A centre for nature and green living in York, maintained and managed by volunteers for the benefit of people and wildlife, is celebrating after receiving almost £400,000 thanks to National Lottery players.

St Nicks is one of over 500 organisations in Yorkshire & Humber, doing vital work with communities, to receive a share of over £20 million from The National Lottery Community Fund, the largest community funder in the UK.*

Thanks to National Lottery players, St Nicks will continue to offer its Ecotherapy programme to the community. The programme includes a wide range of nature-based activities giving people the opportunity to learn about local wildlife, gardening, woodworking skills and more.

From ‘Plot to Plate’ to ‘Wellies and Wheelbarrows’, the activities are designed to meet a wide range of physical and mental needs, all whilst making York a more environmentally friendly and sustainable place.

The project aims to support people with chronic or severe mental ill health and is available for social prescriber referrals and other referral routes, offering support at all stages of recovery from hospital discharge, through early intervention and on to sustained participation.

One Ecotherapy participant said: “St Nicks has given me more than I can probably put into words. It’s encouraged me to meet and engage with others. To pick up a pen and write, to go outside more, to look and listen more closely, to start reading books about nature. To learn to love every weather and every season.”

Social prescribing is a means of enabling health professionals to refer people to activities, groups, and services in their community to meet the practical, social and emotional needs that affect their health and wellbeing. There is growing evidence that social prescribing reduces pressure on the NHS - findings published by the University of Westminster show where an individual has support through social prescribing, their GP consultations reduce by an average of 28% and A&E attendances by 24%**.

Jo Young, Manager for Nature and Wellbeing at St Nicks, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players we can continue and expand our highly valued Ecotherapy programme. These activities make a huge difference to members of our community and significantly improve mental wellbeing by building connections with nature. This will have a positive impact on many people’s lives.”

Another Ecotherapy participant said: “[St Nicks] is a wonderfully kind, caring place with a bunch of encouraging, creative, people. People who genuinely value one another and build each other up. There is time and space to ‘be’ when needed, time and space to talk when needed, time and space to learn and grow…We’re built up, encouraged, checked in on, and allowed to go at our own pace. We’re just us. Accepted at face value and never rushed, shamed, or another item on someone’s tick list. It’s a haven in the midst of an otherwise often-chaotic life and although it’s a cliché, I genuinely don’t know where I’d be without it.”

Joe Dobson, Head of Funding for Yorkshire & Humber at The National Lottery Community Fund, said: “Thanks to National Lottery players and the hard work and dedication of local groups and projects, this funding will make a big difference to people’s lives.  The quality of applications we receive speaks volumes about the care and ingenuity of local people - we’re delighted that our grants are being used to support great projects that strengthen communities and improve lives in our region in many ways.”

The National Lottery Community Fund awards grants to strengthen society and improve lives across the UK. Thanks to National Lottery players, it will distribute at least £4 billion by 2030, supporting activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable.

The award falls under two of The National Lottery Community Fund’s four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.

To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk