Current Work

THERAPI

What can THERAPI do for you?

Therapi at Thames Chase has been at the forefront of Green Health since 2002 and has built up considerable knowledge and practical experience of working with others to improve people’s health and well being.

Therapi focuses its work mainly in Havering, Barking & Dagenham and West Essex, because this is roughly the area covered by the Forest, but it has also carried out work further afield and is interested to talk to anyone about potential work in Green Health.

We can assist you in:

• Setting up green health programmes in your area. If you are in the environment sector we can guide you into your local Primary Care Trusts, Mental Health Trusts, Local Implementation Teams and other agencies within the NHS and local government. If you are in the health sector we can demonstrate how the health benefits of the green environment can help you meet targets for patients with diabetes, CHD, cancer, back pain, obesity, falls, and mental illness. And we can advise on preventative health care activities as well.

• Providing projects for mental health service users. Research has shown (and vetted by NICE) that physical activity is as good as anti-depressants for people experiencing mild depression. Activity in the countryside has been found to be more sustainable than indoor gyms, and walking in woodland is an antidote for anxiety and stress.  Along with other evidence of poor physical health there is a convincing case for providing green health for service users.

• Do you want to set up a conservation programme focused on health benefits; a cycling project; a walking in Nature programme; staff training in ecotherapy? We have experience of all these and can help you get started quickly and effectively.

• We can help you provide the evidence and arguments for Green Health programmes to the sceptics and uninformed. We have recently undertaken a review of the latest academic research in this field and can present the results in plain English.

• Are you a private organisation who would like to increase your commitment to local community involvement or improve staff morale by offering programmes that increase team cohesion, reduce stress and do something useful for the local community? We can custom design activities for your employees as freestanding or part of in house developmental work.

Go to Thames Chase and Healthy Living to find out how the Community Forest can help you lead a healthy lifestyle.