Prominent psychiatrist, psychotherapist and Horatio’s Garden supporter, Sue Stuart-Smith, will soon be releasing her new book The Well Gardened Mind.
Having studied at Cambridge, Sue went on to work in the National Health Service for many years and became the lead clinician for psychotherapy in Hertfordshire. She has long been passionate about the value and importance of the natural world, which forms the basis of her inspirational and authoritative investigation into the powerful effects of gardening on our health and wellbeing.
Sue artfully weaves real-life stories with contemporary neuroscience and psychoanalysis to explore the many ways in which gardening can help transform people’s lives. She finds that prisoners given the chance to grow plants are less likely to reoffend, that at-risk young people who get their hands in soil are more likely to stay in education and that elderly people who garden live longer and have a better quality of life.
These discoveries, amongst many others, fuel her argument that in an age when our lives are becoming increasingly urbanised and technology-dependent it is more important than ever to rediscover a closer relationship with the earth. Whilst our understanding of nature and its restorative powers is just beginning to flower, The Well Gardened Mind is certainly helping us to make more sense of just how much we should appreciate the beautiful world around us.
The Well Gardened Mind by Sue Stuart-Smith is published by William Collins and will be available from Thursday 16th April (£20).
It comes recommended by Stephen Fry, Monty Don and Rachel de Thame, so to pre-order your copy, please CLICK HERE.
