Mental Health Deserves Tending

What nature can bring to the way we care for ourselves—and each other

A garden asks us to pay attention.

To notice what needs water. What needs light. What needs a little more room to grow.

As World Mental Health Day approaches on October 10, I keep coming back to that practice of attention—and the people who deserve more of ours.

This year’s theme, “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change,” calls for people with lived experience of mental health conditions to help shape the policies, services and decisions that affect their lives. Listening matters. What we do after listening matters, too.

At Gardenuity, that invitation feels personal. Our work begins with making gardens and gardening experiences accessible. It also asks us to pay attention to what people tell us about their lives.

The numbers are large. The experiences are personal.

The World Health Organization estimates that 16% of working-age adults had a mental disorder in 2023. Depression and anxiety account for an estimated 12 billion lost working days each year worldwide, with a cost of roughly $1 trillion in lost productivity.

Those numbers should get our attention. But the human experience deserves to hold it.

Behind the statistics are people navigating work alongside caregiving, grief, financial pressure and mental health conditions that may never be visible to colleagues. A person can show up, meet a deadline and smile through a meeting while having a very difficult day.

Employers have a role to play. WHO identifies excessive workloads, job insecurity, discrimination and limited control over work as risks to mental health. Support must include attention to those conditions, alongside access to appropriate care.

A wellness experience has the most value when it belongs to a workplace that takes people’s needs seriously.

A small garden can open a meaningful conversation.

Over the years, participants in Gardenuity workshops have told me how their gardens become a reason to pause during the workday. A moment to step away from a screen, check for new growth and tend to something living.

Those conversations stay with me.

They also prompt a question: how can we help people carry that experience into their everyday lives?

Planting creates an opportunity to practice paying attention. A follow-up lesson can help someone turn that experience into a repeatable ritual. Encouragement can help a beginner feel comfortable continuing.

That is the opportunity I see in nature-based wellness education: connecting an accessible experience with learning people can use again.

What does the research say?

There is growing research on nature, gardening and mental well-being. Different kinds of evidence answer different questions.

A 2019 study of 19,806 adults in England found that spending at least 120 minutes a week in natural environments was associated with better self-reported health and well-being. The association appeared whether that time came from one longer visit or several shorter ones. This was an observational study: it found a relationship, rather than proving that nature caused the improvement. It also studied outdoor nature visits, so the findings should not be treated as a prescribed dose for desktop gardening.

A small 2025 randomized study explored indoor plant care. Twenty-six adults who had experienced a stressful life event were assigned either to tend a plant for one month or to a waitlist group. Participants in the plant-care group reported improvements in perceived stress, depressive symptoms and resilience compared with the control group. The findings are encouraging, but the sample was small and the study was short.

Structured programs offer another important area of research. A 2025 systematic review examined 17 studies of social and therapeutic horticulture, including four randomized controlled trials. Pooled comparisons favored horticultural interventions for depression and anxiety symptoms. However, the researchers identified low overall study quality, substantial risk of bias and variation in results. More rigorous research and longer follow-up are needed.

Together, these findings support taking nature seriously as a potential part of mental health support—and being precise about what we can claim.

They do not establish that Gardenuity’s specific programs treat depression or anxiety. They give us a reason to build thoughtfully, listen carefully and evaluate our own work.

Where horticultural therapy fits

Horticultural therapy is a professional practice. The American Horticultural Therapy Association describes it as participation in horticultural activities facilitated by a registered horticultural therapist to meet specific goals within an established treatment, rehabilitation or vocational plan.

The activities may include planting, propagating or tending. Their therapeutic purpose comes from the assessment, professional guidance and individualized goals surrounding them.

Everyday gardening, nature-based wellness education and horticultural therapy can each have a place. Understanding the differences helps people find the kind of support they need.

Gardenuity’s opportunity is to make nature-based wellness education accessible: using planting and tending to help people practice attention, develop manageable routines and explore ways to pause. Clinical horticultural therapy requires the appropriate professional framework.

Nature can sit alongside counseling, medication when appropriate and other forms of care. People deserve access to the full range of support that meets their needs.

The garden is the material. The learning is the program.

For employers considering mental health programming, the important question is what participants will learn and how that learning will be supported.

A nature-based class can have clear educational goals: practicing a mindful pause, noticing sensory details, choosing a manageable routine and reflecting on what helps someone reset.

The garden gives those lessons something tangible to return to.

A strong program should also make room for different abilities, schedules, environments and preferences. It should offer guidance after the initial experience, gather voluntary feedback and use that feedback to improve. Attendance tells us who joined. Participants can help us understand what was useful.

Connection may be part of that experience, too. People’s mental health, relationships and daily circumstances interact. The most thoughtful programming recognizes those connections while being clear about its purpose.

Real voices should shape what grows next.

This World Mental Health Day, I hope we ask better questions.

What feels accessible to you?
What makes support difficult to use?
What would you like us to change?

People should be able to answer without having to disclose a diagnosis or share a painful story. Participation should be a choice, and feedback should have a path to action.

At Gardenuity, we believe more people deserve access to the wellness possibilities of gardens. A desktop plant, a patio garden or a guided planting experience can be an approachable place to begin exploring a relationship with nature.

The next step is to listen to the person tending it.

A garden reminds us that care is ongoing. Needs change. Growth takes time. Paying attention helps us respond.

Mental health deserves that same commitment.

Measure less. Tend more. Grow what matters.