Belfast Plant Stories: Lauren McFarland from The Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland
Our final plant stories for this iteration of Belfast Community Plant Library, this time with the amazing Lauren McFarland from The Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland.
The Conservation Volunteers (TCV)
The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) is a UK-wide charity, established in 1959, working across England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to connect people together to protect and restore nature, delivering lasting benefits for both through practical conservation, community gardening, green spaces and outdoor wellbeing.
I met Lauren McFarland from the TCV Northern Ireland team at their beautiful Beech House on Ravenhill Road before heading up to Knockbracken Community Garden and Allotments to explore their allotment, polytunnel and garden spaces.
Meet Lauren McFarland
Lauren McFarland is a Team Leader with TCV Northern Ireland, overseeing the delivery and operations of projects across Belfast. Much of her work focuses on programmes delivered in partnership with the Public Health Agency through their Green Gyms in community gardens.
The Green Gym programme is all about how nature can support physical and mental wellbeing. It gives people the opportunity to connect with nature and meet others in a natural setting through practical horticulture and conservation projects.
TCV runs both short-term Green Gyms with community groups/gardens and permanent Green Gyms on their own or partner sites, creating opportunities for people who may not already be connected to a community group, or who simply want to dip their toes into working with nature. There are Green Gyms at Annadale Community Centre, Cultra at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Dunville Community Garden and Knockbracken (which I got to visit and can confirm is absolutely beautiful). Their Knockbracken facilities are situated within the Knockbracken Healthcare Park, a site that shows what a healthcare environment can be when health providers, charities and community organisations are all situated together.
TCV NI works closely with Belfast Trust on Mental Health Green Gyms, connecting directly with occupational therapy teams and working across acute mental health inpatient services, the Shannon Clinic, forensic services and community rehabilitation.
As well as providing inpatient support, they also provide supported pathways through their Green Gyms for people leaving mental health units at the hospital to help them integrate back into the community and continue to improve their health and wellbeing. This can really help people at a particularly difficult and isolating time.
For Lauren, creating resilient communities and accessible support networks is an important part of helping people recover sustainably. The opportunity to move from a hospital environment into a welcoming community setting, knowing there is somewhere to go and someone there to meet, can make a significant difference.
The power of nature
There is growing recognition of the role nature can play in health and wellbeing. Even having a view of nature from a hospital room has been shown to have a positive effect, while access to gardens can benefit healthcare staff as well as patients. Even just offering people a quiet space in nature can have an enormous benefit for people experiencing the noise and intensity of healthcare environments.
Over the past five years, TCV Northern Ireland has grown its Mental Health Green Gym provision from one programme to five, with an ambition to eventually see opportunities available across every hospital in Northern Ireland.
For Lauren, one of the privileges of the work is seeing first-hand how people respond to nature and witnessing the role it can play in recovery.
Making nature accessible to everyone
At the heart of TCV’s work is a simple idea: making nature accessible.
Historically, horticulture and gardening can sometimes feel exclusive, with a sense of privilege, knowledge and even gatekeeping surrounding who gets to participate. TCV works to challenge that perception and demystify gardening, growing and working with nature. Gardening is wonderfully versatile, practical and hands-on and suitable for people of any age, language, disability, hearing impairment or neurodivergence. You don’t need to be an experienced gardener or need specialist knowledge. TCV provides you with the space, materials and the opportunity to get involved.
For Lauren, this connection is at the heart of her passion for her work at TCV creating pathways to nature for the people who may need it most, while helping to bridge the gap between healthcare and the community.
Green Gyms and social prescribing
The Green Gym model was developed in England in the 1990s by doctor William Bird, with the aim of improving physical and mental health while reducing isolation and loneliness through social prescribing of free outdoor sessions combining physical exercise with practical environmental conservation. TCV works with local healthcare professionals to connect people with Green Gym opportunities,
Growing native trees
TCVNI’s work extends far beyond Green Gyms.They run lots of different one-off workshops and initiatives (keep an eye on their social media for details) and they also have a Tree Nursery at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra. The tree nursery is focused on growing native trees. Volunteers collect seeds from native woodlands, plant and nurture them before the trees are eventually used in reforestation projects across Northern Ireland.
Conservation Action Teams
There are also Conservation Action Teams working on practical conservation projects, including invasive species clearance, as well as peatland restoration, habitat management and tree planting. Much of this work is seasonal and dictated by nature.
“A useful reminder that working with nature requires patience and an understanding that things happen in their own time.”
Get involved
There are lots of opportunities to get involved with TCVNI, from volunteering at the tree nursery and community gardens to taking part in practical conservation projects and Green Gyms.
At its core, TCV is about creating opportunities for people to connect with nature, with their communities and with themselves.
And perhaps that’s what makes the work so powerful: nature isn’t something separate from us. We are part of it
You can find out more about TCVNI on their website: https://www.tcv.org.uk/northernireland/ and on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tcvni and Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/tcv_ni/
