MENTAL HEALTH AND GREEN EXERCISE

That this House notes the recent evidence that anti-depressant drugs are ineffective in the treatment of many people; commends the mental health charity MIND, for its report Ecotherapy - the green agenda for mental health, which shows that exercise activity outside in attractive and varied landscapes benefits mental as well as physical health; and supports MIND's calls for Ecotherapy to be recognised as a clinically valid treatment for mental distress, access to green space to be considered as a key issue in all care planning and care assessment, and designing for mental wellbeing to be recognised as good practice for architecture and planning.