Flagship 10-week programme for wellbeing and recovery

Resilience and Recovery

A bespoke, evidence-based programme supporting resilience, wellbeing and recovery for serving military personnel and veterans.

Resilience and Recovery is the Defence Gardens Scheme’s flagship programme, delivered over 10 weeks in a safe, outdoor setting. It is designed specifically for either serving military personnel or military veterans, with cohorts kept separate to ensure trusted, shared spaces. The programme uses gardening and nature-based activity to support wellbeing, connection and confidence in a light-touch, non-clinical environment.

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How the Programme Works

Participants attend weekly facilitated sessions that combine:

  • Practical outdoor activity

  • Time in nature

  • Opportunities for social connection

  • Gentle facilitation and peer support

Participants engage at their own pace, with no pressure to disclose or perform.

Evidence-Informed Design

The programme is informed by independent evaluation and reflects what veterans consistently tell us works best:

VOLSH

  • Veteran-only

  • Outdoors

  • Light-touch

  • Social

  • Holistic

These principles align closely with best practice in green social prescribing and nature-based therapy.

Outcomes & Impact

Improved wellbeing

Participants report improved mood, confidence and emotional regulation

Reduced isolation

Regular social contact in a trusted peer group.

Stronger connection

Increased sense of belonging and purpose.

Sustained engagement

Many participants progress into further programmes or community activity.

A person with tattoos, wearing sunglasses, gloves, and white clothing, is cutting down a tree in a forest with an orange saw.

Delivery & Partnerships 

Resilience and Recovery is delivered in partnership with trusted community and heritage settings across the UK and can be commissioned for specific locations or populations. 

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  • "I’ve been struggling with the fact I can’t do all the activities that they do. It frustrated me because I can’t bend down. But they adapt in an equitable way, which is handy. I fill in jobs others won’t do... stuff that I don’t need to kneel for. They’ve got high planters, 15ft long and I can weed away. Someone’s got to do it."

    —Veteran, Autumn 2024

  • "It does not matter if gardening is not your ‘thing’, it gives you time and space to work out what your ‘thing’ is."

    —Veteran, Spring 2022

  • "You can sit in a quiet area, and you’re not forced to do anything. It’s excellent. For a lot of people with mental health problems, having no pressure makes all the difference."

    —DGS Delivery Team

  • "I think the programme has caught my anxiety down already, to a 7, if the same things happen again by the end of [the programme], I will be a 3..it will be a miracle. The invisible medication. It's a distraction…it distracts me from my thoughts and makes me feel at one with nature and meeting lovely people."

    —Veteran, Spring 2024