Over a quarter of UK parents say kids ‘struggling’ with anxiety and panic attacks but nature could be an answer
- Over 1 in 4 UK parents say their child has struggled with anxiety in last 12 months
- Spending time in nature could help children’s mental health say more than a third of parents (43%)
- The National Lottery Community Fund releases new data on World Environment Day to show the benefits of nature - and urge the public to apply for grants of up to £20,000 that will fund environmental projects that can transform their communities.
Over a quarter of parents or guardians in the UK say their child has struggled with anxiety1 but one answer to benefit their mental health could lie in access to nature and green spaces, according to new research from The National Lottery Community Fund.
In a survey of over 2,000 parents of children aged 4 – 17 conducted by Ipsos, over a quarter (30%) said their child struggled with anxiety or panic attacks in the past 12 months, just under a quarter (23%) said their child struggled with stress and just under 1 in 5 (18%) said their child dealt with low self-esteem.
Worryingly, 1 in 5 (22%) parents with a child as young as 7 say their child struggled with anxiety over the past 12 months.
And parents of girls aged 15 – 17 were twice more likely to say their child has poor mental health than parents of boys of the same age (15% vs 7%).
Unsurprisingly, parents selected reduced screen time as the top benefit to their child’s mental health; however, well over a third of parents (43%)2 said spending more time in nature would help their child’s mental health and over a quarter (28%) felt being able to access green spaces, such as parks, would also help.
This echoes research from The Lancet which reveals those who spend just two hours per week in nature report significantly higher levels of wellbeing compared to those who don’t.3 Individuals living within 1 kilometre of green space also had a significantly lower risk of experiencing anxiety and depression.4
In the Ipsos UK-wide survey, parents said their child seemed worried about a range of issues in the last year, the top 3 being judged by others (27%), body image (21%) and safety (18%). Just under 1 in 10 (9%) mentioned climate change.5
The findings are being released ahead of World Environment Day on Thursday [5 June] by The National Lottery Community Fund, who want to encourage as many people as possible to get involved in projects linked to nature and green spaces to help the planet and provide mental health benefits.
In the last year, The National Lottery Community Fund has supported nearly 400 environmental projects across the UK to protect and restore nature, encourage recycling and save energy, thanks to almost £50 million of funding generated by National Lottery players.
The grant-maker says that a significant proportion of its funding already benefits the environment. A survey of 36 environmental projects from the National Lottery Community Fund’s flagship environmental programme, Climate Action Fund, revealed that in 2023 more than 7,500 volunteers took part in projects to improve the environment.
Projects focused on many different environmental activities, with almost 7,000 trees planted and saved over 3,000 tonnes of food waste - roughly the weight of 2,059 cars.6
Almost 62,000 items have been repaired, recycled or reused and almost 17,000 square metres of community gardens have been redeveloped - around the size of 65 tennis courts. 7
In a bid to inspire community-led environmental action, The National Lottery Community Fund is offering millions of pounds of funding over the next ten years to projects and charities across the UK specifically focused on restoring and regenerating nature.7
People across the UK can apply for National Lottery Awards for All grants of between £300 and £20,000 for environmental projects, through The National Lottery Community Fund’s website. There are also grants of varying amounts available for people that are specific to projects in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
The projects could include creating community gardens for growing food or plants, running volunteer sessions to care for green spaces, improving parks or playgrounds to support nature and wildlife, or running outdoor activities for people who don’t usually access green spaces.
Abby-Leigh Doig, 24, who has autism and has had anxiety and depression knows first-hand how spending time in nature can help mental health. She says Lucky Ewe, a National Lottery Community Funded project in East Fife has turned her life around:
“Four years ago my anxiety and depression were really bad. I had no friends, spent most of the day in bed and wouldn’t even go in the garden. I dropped out of school and had hit rock bottom. My family and I had moved to the UK from overseas and I was really lonely.
“I found out about Lucky Ewe, a project where young people can spend time in nature at a sheep farm and learn farming skills and it has totally changed my life.
“Spending time with the sheep or planting trees was relaxing and took my mind off my worries. I felt needed and useful and focusing on the animals made it less intimidating to talk to people.
“I have made friends and realised being a farmer is my dream, a career not many young Muslim women pursue.
“I have spoken about my mental health at an event with more than 200 people, shared how the animals have helped me with my 50,000 TikTok followers and even set up my own dog walking and livestock care business.
“Nature and the amazing people in my community who set up Lucky Ewe have transformed my mental health and made life worth living again and I will always be grateful.”
John Rose, Environment Lead at The National Lottery Community Fund says: “It’s really worrying to hear parents reporting that children are struggling so much with their mental health. It’s a complex area and while there is no one single solution, parents are telling us that access to green spaces and nature could play a part in helping their child’s mental health and we know this is backed up by other research.
“At The National Lottery Community Fund, we know people are increasingly concerned about the environment but we can empower them to take action to improve it as we provide funding, from £300 for small grassroot organisations to hundreds of thousands of pounds for more established organisations.
“From Perth to Portsmouth and everywhere in between, we have already supported thousands of volunteers to share and reuse everything from toys to garden tools, save energy at their community buildings making them warmer, more welcoming and cheaper to run, and take walks in nature helping them feel happier and healthier.
“If you have an idea for a project that will restore or improve your local environment, whether that’s a tree-planting project, a community garden or a recycling scheme we’re urging you to get in touch and apply for a grant at https://bit.ly/Environmentfunding Together we can save the planet, encourage people to get out in nature to benefit their mental health and transform communities.”
The research was conducted by Ipsos on behalf of The National Lottery Community Fund. Ipsos interviewed a representative sample of 2,074 adults aged 18-65 who are the parent or legal guardian of any children aged 4-17 years old in the United Kingdom via its online survey platform between 25th April – 2nd May 2025.
The sample obtained is representative of the population of this audience with interlocking quotas on age and gender, and quotas on region and working status of the respondents as well as quotas on age and gender of the respondents’ child.
The data has been weighted to the known offline population proportions of this audience for age and working status within gender, and for government office region, to reflect the adult population of this audience of the United Kingdom.
- Parents were asked: ’Which, if any, of the following has your child struggled with in the past 12 months?’ And asked to select all that apply from a pre-coded list. Those with more than one child were asked to think about their child whose birthday fell most recently. 28% of parents selected “Anxiety (e.g. general anxiety, social anxiety, phobias, etc.)”. The combined proportion of those either selecting this option or selecting “Panic attacks” is 30%.
- Parents were asked: ’Which of the following, if any, do you think would be of benefit to the mental health of your child?’ And asked to select all that apply from a pre-coded list. When focusing on outdoor space, 43% said spending more time in nature and 28% said access green spaces would benefit their mental health. The most selected answer was reduced screen time (47%). See table below:
| Reducing screen time | 47% |
| Spending more time in nature | 43% |
| Spending more time on face-to-face interactions with friends | 39% |
| Learning a new skill | 39% |
| Access to sport clubs or facilities | 32% |
| Access to after-school programs | 31% |
| Access to green spaces or nature | 28% |
| Having a restriction on their access to online content | 26% |
| Access to youth clubs | 22% |
| Volunteering or spending time helping others | 22% |
| Other physical spaces for young people | 19% |
| Career advice or help with employment | 18% |
| Tailored one-to-one support (e.g. counselling, therapy, etc.) | 17% |
| None of the above | 7% |
| Don't know | 3% |
Spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature is associated with good health and wellbeing | Scientific Reports; Mathew P White, Ian Alcock, James Grellier, Benedict W Wheeler, Terry Hartig, Sara L Warber, Angie Bone, Michael H Depledge and Lora E Fleming
- Green space exposure on depression and anxiety outcomes: A meta-analysis, Environmental Research, iquan Liu a b c 1, Xuemei Chen a b c 1, Huanhuan Cui c, Yuxuan Ma a b c, Ning Gao a c, Xinyu Li a c, Xiangyan Meng a c, Huishu Lin a b c, Halidan Abudou a c, Liqiong Guo a b c, Qisijing Liu d, Volume 231, Part 3, 15 August 2023, 116303 Green space exposure on depression and anxiety outcomes: A meta-analysis - ScienceDirect
- Parents were asked: ‘Has your child seemed worried about any of these topics in the last 12 months, or not?’ And asked to select all that apply from a pre-coded list. Answers were as follows:
| Bing judged by others | 27% |
| Their body image (i.e. how they perceive their body and how they think others perceive it) | 21% |
| Their safety when they are out and about | 18% |
| Their mental health | 17% |
| Online safety | 14% |
| Their physical health | 14% |
| Their future employment prospects or getting a job or career | 14% |
| Conflicts and wars around the world | 13% |
| Their interaction with social media | 13% |
| Not being able to, or difficulties in developing a hobby or skill | 12% |
| Cost of living (e.g. increasing prices, ability to pay bills, etc.) | 11% |
| Climate change | 9% |
| Diversity and inclusion | 8% |
| Access to suitable physical spaces for socialising with other young people | 7% |
| Access to green spaces or nature | 5% |
| None of the above | 28% |
| Don't know | 2% |
The National Lottery Community Fund surveyed 36 Climate Action Fund grant-holders in 2023. To calculate how many cars equate to 3,000 tonnes we divided 3,000 by the average mass of a new car (1.457 tonnes) to get 2,059, BBC, Are cars getting too big for the road? - BBC Future
- To calculate how many tennis courts equated to 17,000 square metres, we divided it by the average size of a tennis court (260.87m2) to get 65.1.
The National Lottery Community Fund has identified three priority areas for environmental funding that the UN has identified as putting global economic and social wellbeing at risk: Climate, Nature, and Pollution. Its ambition is to:
- Be a world-class environmental funder: supporting impactful projects that protect and improve the environment in ways that matter to local communities.
- Improve the environmental impact of the voluntary and community sector (VCS) sector: leading the way in our funding practice, supporting and inspiring our applicants and grant holders to take action to protect and improve the environment, and leveraging our position as the UK’s largest community funder by starting to mainstream requirements into all our funding.
- Become an exemplar in managing our environmental impact: walking the talk, and working towards net zero, sharing our practice along the way and inspiring others.
- Demonstrate influence and leadership: convening stakeholders; actively showcasing the role communities play in improving our environment.