What we do

Community Gardens In Action

Horticultural therapy is a process that trained professionals use to help a person achieve a clinical goal through the interaction with plants and the natural world.

Social and Therapeutic Horticultural Therapy is when horticultural activities are delivered in a social setting.

Find out more

Are you interested in setting up a Therapeutic Garden, a Community Garden or a Group Allotment?

Then look no further!

Get up and Grow are the go to North West providers of Social and Therapeutic Horticulture delivery and training, providing workshops, training and ongoing support to schools, residential settings, community groups and individual organisations. We offer taster sessions in Social and Therapeutic Horticulture and nature based activities to enhance our connection to nature all year round.

Courses and Workshops

Are you interested in setting up a community garden in your neighbourhood?

Click on the link to find sources of funding, support and free resources.

Support for Community Gardens

Who we are and what we do

Get up and Grow is a social enterprise operating in the Greater Manchester area. It was founded by Hayley Watson and Michelle Garrity. Here at Get up and Grow we’re passionate about social and therapeutic horticulture. Our trained horticultural practitioners use a co-creative and adaptive way of working using plants as a tool to offer person centred support to improve physical health and well being to both individuals and groups improving skills and abilities

The main focus of all our workshops is the direct physical engagement of the participants with the natural objects and materials being used. Such interactions trigger memories and emotions that can improve their state of health and wellbeing.

“We want everyone in our local community to have access to growing opportunities, to meet new people and generally have fun planting and being outdoors. It is proven to positively impact our health and wellbeing.”
Hayley Watson, Director

Our Aims

Get Up and Grow was set up to level the playing field for people living in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in England. Deprescribing and green social prescribing offer a way of connecting communities to nature by providing social and therapeutic horticulture workshops, growing vegetables and flowers cooking ceramics arts and crafts.

We specialise in providing horticultural workshops and training to different people, enhancing their lives.

We work with Greater Manchester’s social prescribing network signposting people to horticultural therapy sessions, improving their health and wellbeing.

Our workshops create direct interactions with nature which serve as catalysts, evoking memories and emotions that contribute to an overall improvement in the participants’ health and well-being.

At Get Up and Grow we believe in cultivating not just plants, but opportunities for growth, connection, and positive transformation in the lives of those we serve.

Testimonials

Working with Get Up and Grow has been a brilliant experience for us at the Willows Dementia Hub. Our residents have loved having the team in and the courses are just right for their needs. Hayley makes them great fun and we have seen surprising improvement in some of our residents. Our staff have benefited too and have enjoyed learning new skills. Get Up and Grow have helped us develop our horticultural therapy offering and improve our setting and I can’t recommend them highly enough!

Gail, Willows Dementia Hub Manager

Get up and Grow have been members of Action Together for a few years and have supported the community with providing clinical interventions through social and therapeutic horticulture, working with children and adults with learning difficulties, mental ill health, dementia and a variety of other conditions. We have supported Get up and Grow through their Quality in Action award, which takes a deep-down dive into policies, procedures, governance amongst other things. Their quality of service is excellent, and the benefit to the community shines through when I see pictures or hear feedback from a session. Get up and Grow were successful in achieving their Quality in Action award this year, well done! Continue to do what you do as you really are making a huge difference in the community.

Laura Augustine Volunteering and General Admin Assistant Action Together

In summer 2021 we at the Co-operative Heritage Trust were fortunate enough to partner with Hayley from Get Up & Grow to devise and deliver a series of workshops for children in receipt of free school meals in Rochdale using money allocated by Rochdale Council’s Holiday Activity Fund.

From planning to delivering Hayley’s creative approach to learning added a quality to the workshops that’s irreplaceable. Her instinctive pastoral facilitation brought out the best in the children taking part and engaged even the most reluctant of learners.

Hayley is incredibly organised and adaptable as well as approachable and inventive, she’s a pleasure to work with and has worked hard to make Get Up & Grow an asset in Rochdale’s Community and Voluntary sector.

How we work

Who we work with

Who we help

What we do