For centuries gardens have been used to help the healing process. The new garden at St James's Hospital features an interactive sound sculpture, a herb garden, an area for group therapy sessions and a meditation section, writes Hélène Hofman.
'There's something about gardens. Nature stimulates the senses and helps us get better," says Brigid O'Brien, a community artist with Anois Healing Gardens.
"Doctors and pills can be necessary, but they [healing gardens] heal in a way that medicine can't. We need to start recognising that a huge amount of illnesses are a result of how we live. Nature stirs the senses and the only way you can take in information is through your senses," she says.
Gardens have been used to complement the healing process for centuries - the Japanese created Zen gardens, and monastic cloister gardens can be found across Europe. However, in the past two decades mainstream health clinics in the United States have begun to incorporate healing gardens into their facilities to support the healing process. Healing gardens aim to provide a comforting and serene atmosphere for patients, staff and visitors.
Prof Roger Ulrich from the Center for Health Systems and Designs at Texas A&M University conducted research into the therapeutic effects of gardens. In 1984 he found that surgical patients who had access to a natural environment recovered from operations quicker, took less medication to relieve pain and had fewer minor post-operative complications than patients who didn't.
A follow-up study in 1991 showed that views of nature help patients recover from stress and benefited their physiological systems.
In 1995 Waterford Regional Hospital opened one of the first healing gardens in Ireland. The garden was created by the Waterford Healing Arts Trust (What), which was set up to extend access to arts to the health sector, and with the help of members of the community. It takes inspiration from Celtic traditions and includes specially designed healing stones based on those found at monastic sites and ancient churches.
More recently, the Jonathan Swift Psychiatric Unit in St James's Hospital, Dublin transformed its Courtyard Garden with the help of Anois. The garden, which opened in May last year, was designed in response to the needs of patients at the facility.
"A woodwork teacher there said it [the healing garden] was the best thing to happen in 25 years. And he's not medical staff, he's an observer who would know how things work there," says O'Brien.
"We spoke to patients and they knew exactly what they needed. They wanted somewhere they could meditate. One patient loved playing boules and wanted somewhere to play," says Gerlinde Kugler, garden designer and project manager with Anois.
The completed garden features an interactive sound sculpture, a herb garden, a seated area for group therapy sessions, a meditation section, a water feature, bird houses and a bird bath - all of which are designed to stimulate the five senses. "Even when we were working the patients would come out to say thank you. Gardens are brilliant for patients. They feel better very quickly when they see the flowers and the plants, and they can feel the breeze in their faces. It's so much better than lying in bed," says Kugler.
Mary Baxter, who was chairwoman of What when the healing garden was opened at Waterford Regional Hospital, says the garden is still in use today and has been of huge benefit to patients, visitors and staff who want to escape to somewhere quiet to reflect.
Since the Courtyard Garden was completed at St James's, Ollie Mernagh, acting assistant director of nursing at the Jonathan Swift Unit, who initiated the project, says a number of other health facilities have expressed an interest in creating their own healing garden.
"I had never heard of gardens as a healing environment," he says. "Psychiatric units, unless it's a very modern one, are usually dull, cramped and boring. The main thing was to give a bit of privacy to patients and a recreational area.
" It was just a big plot of land, with poor access and nothing had been done to it for 15 or 16 years. I thought the patients might benefit from something more.
"The garden gives the residents pride. They might lose confidence because of their illness, they might have lost their job, and this gives them something.
"In a general hospital you might have a broken leg and be in for a few weeks and then go home," he says.
"In a mental hospital you're likely to be in for longer. You can't just stay in bed all day, you need something to stimulate you, you need an outlet. The garden does exactly that," he says.