Heads Up Therapies Allotment Group

Heads Up Therapies Allotment Group

When: Alternate Thursdays, 1:00 – 4:00 PM

Where: Leigh Spinners Mill, Park Lane, Leigh, WN7 2LB

Run by: Sessions are led by our Apprentice Occupational Therapist and keen gardener, Antonia, ensuring activities are purposeful, graded, and rehabilitation-focused.

Our allotment project offers an evidence-based, occupation-focused rehabilitation opportunity for adults with acquired brain injuries. Engagement in horticultural activities has been shown to support improvements in functional independence, communication, social cognition, mood, motor function, and overall quality of life (Vibholm et al., 2020).

The Allotment Group uses gardening tasks as therapeutic occupations, supporting participants to develop practical life skills at their own pace within a calm and supportive environment. The project is centred on outdoor activity, routine, and connection with the wider community, offering a consistent space where participants can take on responsibility, contribute to a shared project, and experience a sense of ownership and achievement.

Through structured, purposeful outdoor activity, the project promotes meaningful participation, wellbeing, and longer-term rehabilitation outcomes such as:

Benefits

• Cognitive

Participants exercise attention, concentration, memory, planning, and problem-solving through gardening tasks and plot management.

• Executive Functioning

The allotment supports task initiation, organisation, time management, and cognitive flexibility through gardening activities and projects.

• Functional

Participants build physical tolerance, endurance, activity tolerance and fine and gross motor skills through meaningful outdoor activity.

• Social

Benefits of group work include social participation, peer connection, communication, teamwork, inclusion, and broader community engagement.

• Psychological

Regular involvement promotes wellbeing and confidence through participation in purposeful and meaningful activity.

Eligibility

- Adults Aged 16+

For more information about our allotment group or to attend a free taster session, please email antonia@headsuptherapies.co.uk or call 07395 176 636.