Local mental health group enhances city’s green spaces

BH Live runs Portsmouth Interaction, a health and wellbeing service that refers local people across the city to low-cost fitness and wellbeing activities to support better mental health.

Created with the community in mind, Portsmouth Interaction’s Conservation Group has been running in partnership with Portsmouth City Council since 2017, with countryside officer Peter Roberts playing a lead role.

The free sessions help people with long-term health conditions improve their fitness, self-esteem, and mental health. They also support participants in returning to work, staying physically active, and rejoining everyday life. By spending time outdoors and caring for local green spaces, participants give back to the community and the city’s environment.

Between April 2024 and March 2025 Portsmouth Interaction’s Conservation Group welcomed nearly 400 attendances, with volunteers delivering an average of 11.5 hours of conservation work every week clearing litter, unwanted saplings and weeds in green spaces across Hilsea. Since the group’s inception, more than 450 trees have been planted in the area.

Recent studies from Mind, a mental health charity, found that connecting with nature can improve mood, help with symptoms of mental health conditions, improve physical health, and build confidence and self-esteem*.

Discussing the success of the group, Cllr Matthew Winnington, Cabinet Member for Health, Wellbeing and Social Care at Portsmouth City Council said:

“Supporting the mental health of our residents is one of our key priorities, and we are committed to making sure they can get support where they need it. The importance of volunteer groups in this area cannot be understated. “Portsmouth Interaction’s volunteers play an integral role. They help to maintain and improve this much-loved green oasis in the north of the city, alongside being involved in the creation and development of the area that the Forest School uses. Special thanks go to our countryside officer, Peter Roberts, for all his efforts to make this project happen.”

Feedback from the sessions has been extremely positive, with participants sharing;

“I am much more connected to nature and the environment; I have learnt the history of this site which I previously had no knowledge of”. “Since becoming unwell 6 years ago this project has been essential to my well-being – mental and physical.” “I feel happier in myself.”

Following its success, BH Live has also partnered with local charity, Enable Ability, to deliver joint Portsmouth Interaction Conservation Group sessions to young adults with additional needs to help build confidence, support personal development, and socialise.

On behalf of BH Live, Kerry Morgan, Portsmouth Interaction’s Manager, shared;

“It’s fantastic to see these sessions have been so well received by participants, as well as residents and Portsmouth City Council. It’s brilliant that we can extend our reach to work with other local groups too and encourage more people of all ages to get active, give back to the community, and spend time with others in some of Portsmouth’s beautiful green spaces.”

Residents interested in getting involved can find out more about Portsmouth Interaction at bhliveactive.org.uk/health-and-wellbeing-activities.

More information about BH Live can be found at www.bhlive.org.uk