Our ‘Why don’t we go into the garden?’ publication was created to support Care Settings in creating actively used gardens.  These resources are based on the research I carried out with fellow Garden Designer, Mark Rendell, into why care home gardens, particularly for dementia, were not more actively used even when they met the latest design guidance.

The findings didn’t lead where expected, instead we had to unlock how the care practices, processes and attitudes, its culture, were at influencing engagement outside.

Our aim is to enable residents to enjoy meaningful engagement with the garden as and when they choose. The ‘Care Culture Map and Handbook’, published in 2016, help care settings to understand what is hindering greater engagement, plan a route forward and ensure if a designer is needed that this is appropriate and cost effective and used long after the novelty has worn off.

While our ‘Designer handbook’, published in 2022 to compliment the earlier care focused book, supports those tasked with helping create care environment gardens in line with our findings within a ‘Relationship-Centred Design’ approach.

All our resources include easy to use tools and practical tips for ensuring well-used care environment gardens. More information about our research and resources can be found at  http://www.stepchange-design.co.uk/

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