By Kitty Chilcott, REALITIES community-embedded researcher (Dundee Hub)

Note from the author: I wanted to contribute a more visual blog, because I think the images show what Ninewells Community Garden (NCG) is about and reflect the core aims of REALITIES – to facilitate and be part of peoples recovery journey in a kind and meaningful way by providing a space for people to connect with nature and creativity.

My name is Kitty, and I am the Community Embedded Researcher for the REALITIES Dundee hub, which carries out work at Ninewells Community Garden.

With the support of REALITIES, we are delivering the Flourish programme for people living in Dundee and Tayside who are in recovery from issues such as addiction, mental health illness, and homelessness. We meet twice a month on a Wednesday to garden, eat, and create together. The group ranges from four to 12 people—I have learnt that the small group size is, in fact, a positive thing. I have watched them build friendships, welcome new people in, listen and engage in conversations in topics ranging from tinned cheese to living on the streets. I have enormous respect for the people who come to Flourish and continue to be impressed by their resilience, honesty, and optimism. There is a lot of laughter and banter, and as the programme has developed, the group have increasingly started to shape it themselves, co-designing activities and influencing where we go next.

Within the wider garden, we have a designated space for Flourish (the ‘Flourish Garden’). Developing this space required skills, including planning, clearing the ground, propagating, planting, and mulching, to name a few. We also learn about no-dig gardening and, of course, continued nurturing.

Not only do the Flourish members help with this, but the Flourish volunteers as well; they too have become involved in co-creating the creative workshop programme and have suggested themes and artists.

I believe the garden is like recovery. Gardeners, by nature, are optimists. We do things for the future. We plant seeds hoping they will grow, from food, to trees, and everything in between. Nothing is instant. We work in cycles. Sometimes things are in abundance, and at other times, it appears nothing is there. But there is always something living and waiting to bust out.

NCG is not a manicured garden; it is diverse, messy, and filled with many different plants; some easily recognised and appreciated, others considered weeds. At the garden, we appreciate how all the things that grow are valuable; how diversity is vital for a healthy, sustainable future. The strength of Flourish is that people come because they want to move forward, connect, and contribute. Core to REALITIES  is a drive for system change, moving towards creating opportunities for people to experience the support and meaningful connections to help them recover in ways I have witnessed at Flourish. I believe this opportunity is invaluable.

REALITIES phase 3 is supported by UKRI funding with Grant Ref: AH/Z505456/1. The Project Lead is Marisa de Andrade at The University of Edinburgh. Other Co-Investigators include the University of St Andrews, Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Dundee, Glasgow School of Art, North Lanarkshire Council, Bethany Christian Trust, Flip of the Coin, Artlink Edinburgh and the Lothians, Ochil Youths Community Improvement, and Ninewells Community Garden.

Funding for this research came from three interconnected sources. Firstly, the project called Active Communities Arts Development: Social Prescribing, Sustainable Strategic Planning and Breaking Down Barriers Across Sectors In North Lanarkshire (reference AH/W008912/1) funded through UKRI’s AHRC place-based programme. Secondly, REALITIES phase 2 was funded by the UKRI’s AHRC-led programme to build community research consortia to address health disparities (grant number AH/X006131/1). The research continues into REALITIES phase 3 funded by a UKRI mobilising community assets to tackle health inequalities Research Grant for the project titled: REALITIES in Health Disparities: Researching Evidence-Based Alternatives in Living, Imaginative, Traumatised, Integrated, Embodied Systems, (Grant Ref: AH/Z505456/1).