Sophie, in collaboration with community members and the Barkindji people of far western New South Wales, have designed a Wellbeing Garden for a mental health and wellbeing facility operated by the Royal Flying Doctor Service South East Section.
“A Wellbeing Garden can be a number of things; it can be a garden adjacent to or surrounding a health service such as hospital, aged care facility, respite home,” Sophie explains.
“Now the term is evolving to include gardens that in and of themselves have healing qualities such as medicinal and edible plants. The garden we are designing is both.”
Sophie’s research in this field has won her an APS Robin Winkler Award for Community Psychology and led to an invitation to present at the International Conference of Community Psychology in Montevideo, Uruguay from 10 to 13 September 2024.
“This is an opportunity for us to share our work and learn more about community-based models of wellbeing to bring home to Barkindji Country,” Sophie said.
“We’re fundraising enough to fly the core group to Montevideo and am aiming to raise $21,000 for this purpose.
“We hope to engage with Indigenous Uruguayan communities at the conference, share their insights on the connection between plants and human wellbeing, and bring back knowledge that will support our ongoing work locally.
“This is more than just a conference trip. It's about showing tangible support and faith in the Barkindji community.”
The International Conference of Community Psychology (https://internationalcommunitypsychology.comis) runs biannually, and Sophie has attended the last two online.
The Wellbeing Garden is co-designed with Barkindji and non-Barkindji community members. The co-design and physical installation are the subject of a NSW Government Investing in Women grant that sponsors the involvement of local Indigenous women and girls in the project, and further amplifying it’s community impact.
Interested persons can learn more about the project and contribute to the fundraising efforts by visiting the group's GoFundMe page. A video detailing the project can also be viewed here.
