Staff and young people come together to brighten up patient garden

Over the past few months, staff and young people at Tŷ Llidiard Children’s Mental Health Inpatient Unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital have been refreshing one of the patient gardens – painting a mural, adding garden ornaments, planting flowers and growing food.

Work began in March 2024 to brighten the patient garden and make it a more welcoming, enjoyable space for the young people to use during their time at the inpatient unit. The space is now home to fresh flowers, ornaments decorated by the young people, potted beds for potatoes and strawberries, and a feelings tree where young people can share their thoughts and feelings on the leaves.

In addition, the garden now has a large, colourful mural which was inspired by one of the patients’ drawings. Staff and members of the local arts community were at the forefront of bringing the drawing to life. Local artist, Jeff Evans, helped design the mural from the original piece and musicians from Music in Hospitals – an initiative funded by Arts Council Wales – often played during painting sessions. There was also a ‘swap a plant day’ and staff donated plants to add variety into the garden.

Virginia Richards, Bridgend Local Authority Teacher in the NHS, took the lead on the project, working with patients to bring it to fruition: “The garden has brought staff and young people together to work on something collaboratively, that we can all take pride in and continue to care for. It also meant the CAMHS Inpatients and the Eating Disorders CAMHS Outreach teams – who don’t usually have the opportunity to work together – were able to share this experience.”

The unit held a garden party on Thursday 18 July to celebrate the finished project with attendance from young people and staff. Young people from the unit shared their experiences: “It was nice to do things a few times a week as we get a lot of downtime so it’s good to have activities”, with one patient describing how “the garden has inspired me to do art GCSE”.

The courtyard garden area is one of several at the unit; staff plan to refresh the others in due course.

Lloyd Griffiths, Head of Mental Health Nursing, commented: “It’s wonderful to see the finished result of the hard work of our young people and staff. There has been a real buzz about the unit with the young people feeling a sense of ownership and pride in the project. The garden space is now a warm, colourful and creative area that will provide a positive place for young people during their stay.”

01/08/2024