Alison Marsden will share her MSc research on outcome measurement in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture. Why, What and How to measure the benefits of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture
A research project (primarily addressing mental health) that drew on the experience of STH participants and practitioners plus published studies to understand what outcomes we need to measure to demonstrate effectiveness and support process improvement and why clinical mental health tools are not sufficient on their own.
Speaker biography
WTHD 2025 Alison Marsden - Social and Therapeutic Horticulture practitioner & advisor - Gardening by Design
I am a long term advocate of the power of gardening to support wellbeing. As a trained Social & Therapeutic Horticulture (STH) practitioner my experience includes working with dementia cafés, care homes, hospice day therapy, mental health service users and community gardens. In July 2024 I completed an MSc in Mental Health Recovery and Social Inclusion with the University of Hertfordshire and this underpins my own practice and support provided to other projects. I am very keen to see the expansion of STH in the UK and, with one of the clear challenges lying in how we evaluate and improve the effectiveness of STH, this was the focus of my MSc research project. My first career in IT culminated in project and risk management, transferable skills that are just as useful now that I have swapped an office for the garden.