Nursing The Mind

13/08/2026

Food for thought 🍏

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1HhfQht4KB/?mibextid=wwXIfr

06/08/2026

What's your favourite story about local communities reconnecting with nature?

This one makes my heart sing 🐸

In 2013, Rotherham Council in South Yorkshire faced a straightforward financial problem. Mowing the grass along 8 miles of the town's ring road was costing around £80,000 every year. It also required frequent weekend road closures that frustrated local drivers.

Their solution was to stop mowing altogether and plant wildflowers instead.

Working with Pictorial Meadows Ltd, the same company behind the celebrated wildflower displays at London's 2012 Olympic Village, the council replaced the roadside grass with a carefully selected mix of native wildflowers. The project was called the River of Flowers.

The financial case alone was straightforward. Annual maintenance costs fell from £80,000 to around £55,000, saving the council approximately £25,000 every year while also eliminating most of the road closures.

But what happened next went far beyond the budget.

During the first year alone, the council received more than 250 letters and emails from residents and visitors praising the transformation. People travelled from across Britain specifically to see the roadsides in bloom. The wildflowers brought back bees, butterflies, birds, and a range of other pollinators that had largely disappeared from the area.

That return matters more than it might seem. Britain has lost around 97% of its traditional wildflower meadows since the 1930s, largely due to intensive farming and development. Roadside verges, roundabouts, and urban green strips have quietly become some of the most important remaining corridors for pollinating insects across the country.

What began as a cost-cutting measure became one of Britain's most recognized urban conservation projects, widely cited as evidence that nature-friendly land management and tight public budgets are not opposites.

A town needed to save money. A decision was made to stop cutting the grass. And the bees came back.

29/07/2026

The paradox of life is that sorrow can nurture our strengths 🌱

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1DQmSVi2KH/

Credit to .holistic.psychologist for putting this so beautifully. A difficult childhood didn't just take things from you. It also built things in you. 🌾

Empathy that runs deeper than most people's, because you learned early to read a room before it turned. Pattern recognition sharp enough to spot a red flag from across a crowded space, because your mind trained on exactly that for years. Humor that finds light in places other people can't even look at directly, because sometimes laughing was the only tool you had.

None of that makes the hard parts worth it. But your mind built real skills out of that chapter, ones you still carry and use every day, whether you've ever named them or not.

That's actual capability, built the hard way.

Send this to someone whose hardest years built their sharpest strengths without anyone ever noticing. 🕯️

26/07/2026

Nursing The Mind is now offering individual programs for people interested in nature-based therapies.

Using principles of therapeutic horticulture, these individual programs are for people looking for an alternative to traditional counselling.

Check out my website for a 5-week program designed to support your whole health & wellbeing. 3 to choose from 🌱

May the force be with you,
Jacqui

Nursing The Mind is a private practice that cares for the mind, body and soul with principles of therapeutic horticulture. NTM specialises in chronic illness and trauma recovery, including medical and religious trauma. Onsite counselling in Cheltenham and Ringwood North (VIC), online counselling ava...

21/07/2026

What a heartwarming story! 💚

Note: I only share stories I can verify elsewhere. This was originally reported in 2015 by several news outlets. The BBC has video for those who are interested 🥹

When Ruby Beaton died of stomach cancer in 2003, her husband Stan held on to the one thing that still felt like her.

Their home phone's voicemail greeting. Ruby had recorded it back in 2001, and for over a decade, Stan would dial the number just to hear her voice. "Any time I felt low," the 68 year old from Mirfield, West Yorkshire said, "I knew I always had her voice near."

Then, in December 2014, a routine system upgrade by Virgin Media wiped it.

Stan was gutted. He had spent years resisting offers to switch providers specifically because each new company warned him the greeting wouldn't transfer. He had protected that recording like it was irreplaceable. Because it was.

When Virgin Media realised what had happened, they didn't just apologise. They put a team of 11 engineers on it. For three days, the team searched through archived systems and old backups, hunting for a 14 year old scrap of audio that the system had never been designed to preserve.

On the third day, they found it.

BBC Radio Leeds arranged to surprise Stan with the recovered recording live on air. The moment Ruby's voice came through the speakers, he broke down.

"That's her," he whispered through tears. "Wonderful. Wonderful."

Rob Evans, Virgin Media's Executive Director of Engineering, said the chances of recovery had been slim. But his team refused to give up on a man who had spent a decade refusing to give up on a voice 🤍

15/07/2026

Are you weary? Stressed? Can’t sleep?
Then this online program is for you 🌱

See Humanitix link in bio for more information 😊

11/07/2026

💤 Are you feeling tired or exhausted?
🧘‍♀️ Do you want to slow down and reconnect with yourself?

Join me for a ‘Soul Care Session’ on August 5th.

These online community classes* are designed to nurture yourself with principles of mindful self-compassion, soothing sound healing, and restorative rest. Perfect for when your soul needs tending.

📅 Sessions occur monthly on the first Wednesday of the month

🏷️ Only $15 and every registration supports local 😊

💻 Register via Humanitix link in comments

❓For more information see nursingthemind.au

*These sessions are intended for health promotion only and are not a replacement for mental health treatment.

08/07/2026

Feeling exhausted and needing to embrace Winter’s rest? 💤

Empowered by Nature is an online wellbeing program designed for people living with:

🌀chronic pain
🌀chronic stress
🌀chronic health issues

See Humanitix link in comments for more information on how to develop a practice of rest 🐸

08/07/2026