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It's mental health month - and we want to hear what makes you happy!

By Emily Mason posted 17-10-2022 11:11

  
It's mental health month - and we want to hear what makes you happy!

We all know that landcare activities, from planting to regeneration, are beneficial to our mood and emotions 🌱

Funded through the Landcare-Led Bushfire Recovery Grants, the 2022 University of Melbourne x Federation University "The overwhelm of black and the joy of green" Study saw these submissions prizing the social and mental wellbeing benefits of landcare activities: 

"Health-wise it’s amazing because you’re active and keeping your mind active. It’s essential that - as you grow older your mind tends to get a bit stale, so keeping information coming into you, new information coming into you and being able to disseminate that to other people, I think, is keeping you alive and healthy.

"[It is] morale boosting. When you feel like you can’t get anything more done, to have someone put themselves out there to help. That’s a real mental lifter. If you think of environmental recovery, getting the job done, rather than waiting another 12 months or another 12 months. Some of the plants that were planted last autumn are now a metre and a half high, whereas if they were still in the pots waiting to be done, that wheel wouldn’t have started turning. Manpower is definitely part of it. And I think the fact that someone else can think for you. When you’re overwhelmed, to have someone actually recognise what’s needed and help you make it happen.

"For people to feel like they had some control over how things are going in the in their immediate environment around them, like oh, we can plant these trees and like the wildlife that has lost their habitat will eventually be supported, which is, you know. That little bit of hope, and I think giving people that little bit of control over how things come."

See, we all know the benefits are real! 🤩

If that wasn't enough to convince you (or maybe your partner/coworker/family member/friend) to get into the backyard or a national park (check out Australia's best walking trails here!) check out the findings from the 2021 Landcare Australia x KPMG Wellbeing Report:

In the report, 46% of survey respondents reported an improvement in their mental resilience from landcare activities! The majority of participants that were involved for more than 100 hours per month even reported better mental health. How amazing is that?

Besides getting your hands dirty (there's no better feeling, right?), landcare activities are usually done with buddies! In the same report, 90% of respondents said they felt more closely connected to the community 🤝

But we want to hear what mental health benefits you have seen from your own landcare activities!
Comment below and let us know! Or post to share with others! 
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