Ruth Garside, Becca, and Kerryn Husk, with Georgie Sowman and Edward Chapman, co-authored a BMJ editorial for the Christmas edition of the journal. The editorial dicussed the evidence and investment that are needed to ensure green social prescribing supports health and aids nature recovery.

We argue that in additon to being used to benefit the health of those who take part, green social prescribing interventions should contribute to recovery of nature:

“Mutual benefits for people and the environment are possible. The co-benefits of, for example, participating in local conservation activities for health of individuals, communities, and the environment can create virtuous feedback loops.

We may, however, need to reframe our understanding, tackling social challenges through harnessing nature sustainably instead of seeing it as a resource to commodify and consume. Similarly, link workers and providers of activities require reliable investment and support to ensure that green social prescribing reaches its potential.”

The editorial is accompanied by several other commentries on the practices of nature based prescribing, and importance of contact with the natural world for many people’s mental health.

Garside, R., Lovell, R., Husk, K., Sowman, G., & Chapman, E. (2023). Nature prescribing. bmj, 383.