Cat Flannery - The Natural Therapist

Cat Flannery - The Natural Therapist Horticultural therapist. Bespoke workshops on food growing, organic gardening , permaculture, Mindfullness, foraging and herbalism.

Www.catflannery.com
email: catflannery@gmail.com for a quote Mindfullness in nature workshops. Bespoke garden design and maintenance with a medicinal plant and permaculture influence.

Green Spaces, Grey AreasWe’re told nature is for everyone.The truth is, access to green space is shaped by class, race, ...
18/01/2026

Green Spaces, Grey Areas

We’re told nature is for everyone.
The truth is, access to green space is shaped by class, race, and power.

Some people grow up with gardens, allotments, National Trust memberships, the confidence to belong in certain spaces.
Others grow up locked out — by cost, by geography, by policing, by who is assumed to “belong”.

This isn’t accidental.
It’s structural.

I’ve worked in community gardens, probation projects, mental health services, prisons, and food-growing schemes long enough to see the pattern clearly:

Who gets access to land.
Who gets invited in.
Who is tolerated.
Who is treated like a nuisance.

And who is asked to be grateful for crumbs.

We talk a lot about nature as healing — and it can be.
But healing doesn’t happen in spaces that replicate the same exclusions people experience everywhere else.

Green space without justice is just another gated space with better branding.

This piece isn’t about hating gardens.
It’s about telling the truth.

If we want nature to be genuinely restorative, we have to talk about power, class, racism, and who gets to feel at home on the land.

Full piece on Substack.
Link in bio.




Stop telling tired people to practise self care.My feed is full of advice right now about fixing ourselves.Losing weight...
28/12/2025

Stop telling tired people to practise self care.

My feed is full of advice right now about fixing ourselves.
Losing weight.
Starting again.
Getting motivated.

But this is not that season.

This is the season for being honest about how tired you are.

Most of the people I have worked with in gardens, community projects, prisons and family spaces did not need another routine or mindset shift.

They needed a cup of tea.
A place to sit.
A bit of sun on their face.
Someone to notice them.
Support without judgement.

Sometimes that was the work.
Just sitting. Talking. Breathing. Letting the shoulders drop.

We did not tell people to do the work.
We showed up alongside them.

Because you cannot self care your way out of burnout caused by isolation.
You cannot fix exhaustion with productivity.
And you cannot heal alone.

Real care has always been shared.
It lives in community, in food, in small moments of being seen.

So if you are tired, you are not failing.
You are not behind.
You are human.

And if the sun comes out today, put your face in it for a moment.
That is enough. If you enjoyed reading this i delve deeper in my substack 😘




Winter SolsticeThe longest night of the year isn’t asking us to do more.It’s asking us to pause.Before parties and shopp...
21/12/2025

Winter Solstice

The longest night of the year isn’t asking us to do more.
It’s asking us to pause.

Before parties and shopping lists, midwinter was a threshold.
A moment to sit with the dark, tend a flame, and trust the slow return of the light.

I’ve shared a simple solstice ceremony, a gentle horticultural therapy activity, and a short meditation with a medicinal herbal tea. All rooted in land based, seasonal practice rather than performance.

This is about honouring rest.
Letting the nervous system soften.
And moving at the pace of the earth.

🌑 Read it via the link in my bio 🌞 🌙 🌒



It’s everywhere.AstroTurf where soil used to be.Plastic plants in cafés, shops, homes.Not because people are stupid.Not ...
14/12/2025

It’s everywhere.
AstroTurf where soil used to be.
Plastic plants in cafés, shops, homes.

Not because people are stupid.
Not because they don’t care.

But because we’re exhausted.

We want nature close, but we’ve been sold lives that leave no time to tend it. So we buy the idea of greenery instead — low-maintenance, mess-free, eternally green.

And honestly, I get it.
The grind is real. People are working two or three jobs just to stay afloat.

But here’s the thing:
At a time of climate breakdown, replacing living systems with plastic replicas is completely backwards.

Gardens aren’t decoration.
They absorb water.
They cool cities.
They draw down carbon.
They feed people.
They hold life.

AstroTurf doesn’t just remove plants — it removes relationship.

So instead of fake nature, what if we shared real land?

If you have a garden you don’t have time to care for — lend it.
If you don’t have access to green space but want to grow food — adopt one.
Share the harvest. Keep the land alive.

And if I’m honest, my favourite form of rebellion is small and quiet:
a single plant growing through concrete.
A w**d splitting a pavement.
A Buddleja pushing out of brickwork.

That’s life refusing to be erased.

I live for that. 🌱

I’ve written more about this on Substack — link in bio if you want to read the full piece. SoilNotPlastic





CareAsResistance




NatureInTheCity



Roots2Grow ran for one year on a small patch of land in Greenwich.What happened in that single year changed all of us.Th...
10/12/2025

Roots2Grow ran for one year on a small patch of land in Greenwich.

What happened in that single year changed all of us.

These young men came through Community Service orders.

Many were care-experienced.

Many carried trauma, instability and the weight of being unseen.

But on that land something shifted.

Trust took root.

A young man who refused the circle became a gardener. He wasn’t being rude. He just loved being on the land so much.

Another said quietly one afternoon, “I’m going to kill myself on New Year’s Eve.”

A peer replied, “Call me before you do anything.”

They became each other’s lifelines.

Some became mentors without ever realising it.

One told me, “This is the only thing I’ve ever stuck at.”

Another said, “When I’m here, I feel peace. I’m not looking over my shoulder.”

Roots2Grow showed what becomes possible when young men are given structure, safety, land and a community that believes in them.

It also showed what we risk losing if we ignore young men’s mental health and the crisis of belonging.

This is only a glimpse.

The full story is on Substack. You don’t need the app to read it.

Click the link in my bio.

Cat

🌿 Green Monday: A Garden That Changed LivesFor nearly three years post-pandemic, I ran Green Monday — a horticultural th...
05/12/2025

🌿 Green Monday: A Garden That Changed Lives

For nearly three years post-pandemic, I ran Green Monday — a horticultural therapy programme at Roots for Life.
A gentle rebellion against “Blue Monday.”
And it became a lifeline.

Every week adults were referred through social prescribing, social workers and community networks. Many arrived anxious, grieving, exhausted, lonely.

And slowly, something beautiful happened:

✨ the sparkle returned
✨ their skin glowed from good food + fresh air
✨ laughter came back
✨ friendships formed across cultures and generations
✨ people began to radiate again

Parents who attended would later bring their children to our Easter, Summer and Christmas nature clubs — whole families reconnecting to land, food and community.

We grew food, foraged, cooked together, planted hedgerows, meditated, and shared stories.
The RHS and Natural England made films about us.
We were invited to speak at RHS Hampton Court Flower Show.
We even hosted a national horticultural therapy networking event bringing practitioners together from across the UK.

Green Monday became holistic wraparound care — community meals, food bank support, fuel-poverty help, volunteering, job pathways.
A garden that healed people in ways data can never capture.

I miss it deeply. And I’m so proud of the lives that grew there.

🌿 Full story now on my Substack — link in bio
🎥 Natural England film also in bio

🌱 Transforming Council Estate Green Spaces 🌱It’s time to grow something better.For years I’ve held a quiet, determined d...
30/11/2025

🌱 Transforming Council Estate Green Spaces 🌱

It’s time to grow something better.

For years I’ve held a quiet, determined dream: To turn the empty, unloved green spaces on our council estates into community allotments, mini-orchards and growing hubs.

The kind of spaces where people actually meet,

grow food together, learn from each other,

feel proud of where they live,

and reconnect with nature right on their doorstep.

Across London, so many estate green areas are just bare grass.

“No ball games.”

“No dogs.”

Just… emptiness.

In a city full of food insecurity, loneliness, and sky-high rents,

that feels like such a waste.

But imagine this instead:

🍓 families harvesting fruit from their own orchard

🌳 older + younger generations growing side by side

🌿 neighbours gaining skills that boost job prospects

💚 less isolation, more connection

🏡 greener, safer, healthier estates

🌼 real community pride

This isn’t a fantasy — therapeutic horticulture changes lives.

And I’m ready to scale it.

I’m launching a CIC in Lewisham dedicated to transforming estate green spaces in partnership with councils, housing associations, resident groups, social prescribers and local organisations.

London deserves community spaces that feed people, heal people, and bring people together.

If you work in housing, community development, public health, regeneration, social prescribing, or just believe in this vision — I’d love to connect.

Let’s grow something powerful.

For food. For wellbeing. For community. ***PLEASE COMMENT AND SHARE THIS POST***

🌱💚

— Cat Flannery, MCIHort

Horticultural Therapist | Community Garden Consultant

Lewisham / South East London

🌒 New Substack: Winter Is the Shape of Grief 🌙 This week I wrote about an old photograph I found — a photo where everyon...
26/11/2025

🌒 New Substack: Winter Is the Shape of Grief 🌙

This week I wrote about an old photograph I found — a photo where everyone in it , apart from me is gone.

That cold, sharp silence in the chest.

The way winter mirrors grief with its cold darkness and lack of energy to do anything.

Inside the piece I explore:

• how winter personifies loss

• what nature is teaching us right now

• the rituals that actually help us survive the colder months

• simple herbal support (fire cider, elderberry)

• and the quiet, practical magic of horticultural therapy

After 20 years working with people in deep grief, I know this:

even in the hardest winters, there can still be light, laughter, and hope.

Grief doesn’t erase joy — it deepens it.

If this speaks to you, come read the full piece on Hops & Hawthorn (link in bio).

We winter together. 🤍🌿






“Resilience isn’t inherited wealth; it’s the privilege of secure attachment — and that’s something we can build together...
23/11/2025

“Resilience isn’t inherited wealth; it’s the privilege of secure attachment — and that’s something we can build together.”

There’s a line from psychologist Dr Louis Cozolino that sits at the centre of my latest Substack piece:

“It’s not survival of the fittest, it’s survival of the nurtured.”

In this new article, I explore why real resilience isn’t about having money or preaching self-care in a vacuum — it’s about the relationships that nurture us, the people who hold us when life drops us to our knees, and the community care we need to survive.

Growing up working-class, I learned early that the greatest privilege isn’t a bank balance — it’s having someone you can call at 3am who loves you unconditionally. And if you didn’t have that kind of care in childhood, it doesn’t mean you’re lost. It means we get to create those nurturing connections now: through chosen family, community, friendship, and the small, steady relationships that help us feel safe.

I also talk about why we must move beyond the neoliberal “just practice self-care” narrative and towards a world where we truly show up for one another. The Substack includes an inner child meditation and a herbal tea ritual to support you — but more importantly, it’s an invitation to think about how we can nurture each other this winter.

Head over to the Substack to read more, and join the conversation about nurture, resilience, and community care. 🌿✨

Portugal has quietly become a place I return to again and again — not for escape, but for connection. Since my brother p...
17/11/2025

Portugal has quietly become a place I return to again and again — not for escape, but for connection. Since my brother passed away last year from alcoholism, I’ve been spending time here on my dear friend’s off-grid farm, where life depends on water catchment, solar power, and growing food with intention. She is an equestrian psychotherapist, so healing is already stitched into the land. Go follow her she’s amazing

October / November here is defined by olives. People talk about yields like they’re talking about family: how much the trees gave, how they taste this year, what the land is saying through them. Last year, I wasn’t here. This year, I am — and everything feels different.

I’m supporting a farm design process:
• mapping water flow for irrigation
• planning food-growing systems
• clearing the land to prevent wildfires
• understanding that sometimes healing means letting go, not adding more

Life here is raw and honest:
pregnant rabbits nesting,
three wild dogs arriving terrified and starving,
and Vishtohio the horse grieving — because Ember, the wild mountain mare he loved, moved to another farm.

And then there’s Lucifer — the goat I rescued from a pack of wild dogs, who I believed had died. Days later, he stood up. A slow, impossible resurrection. I cried with relief I didn’t know I was still holding.

This land keeps whispering the same quiet truth:
grief and growth can happen in the same place.

For the full article and meditation please go to the substack link in my bio.
Cat
Hops & Hawthorn











I’ve finally started my Substack: Hops & Hawthorn.It’s a gentle space where I share what’s happening in nature across So...
14/11/2025

I’ve finally started my Substack: Hops & Hawthorn.

It’s a gentle space where I share what’s happening in nature across South London and rural mid-Portugal, and how you can support your mental health with simple, practical horticultural therapy techniques.

You’ll get
• seasonal medicinal herb guidance
• easy tea blends you can make at home
• short guided meditations
• poetry that lands softly
• foraging notes
• updates from my orchard in South London and our little farm in Portugal
• tips to weave nature connection into your week, even if you only have a windowsill

Free subscribers get my weekly seasonal notes.
Paid subscribers get deeper guides, recipes, meditations, and behind-the-scenes orchard/farm content.

If you want gentle, grounded, practical support for your mental health using nature, this space is for you.

Launching something new that feels really close to my heart.I’ve started a Substack called Hops & Hawthorn — a space whe...
14/11/2025

Launching something new that feels really close to my heart.

I’ve started a Substack called Hops & Hawthorn — a space where I’ll be sharing what’s happening in nature, simple ways to support your mental health through plants, foraging notes, folklore, guided meditations and stories from my small permaculture orchard in South London and a little farm in rural mid-Portugal.

I wanted somewhere slower and deeper than Instagram. A place where I can write about the medicinal herbs I work with, the seasons, and the small rituals that keep us grounded — without it getting lost in the noise.

You can subscribe for free (link in my bio).

Thank you for being here — I’m really excited about this next chapter.








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About me

I'm a horticultural therapist, a trauma informed mindfulness teacher and a mental health resilience educator at Roar Pursuits. I’m also a trainee integrative psychotherapist at the Minster Centre in London. Roar pursuits is peer led charity delivering bespoke and holistic training to care experienced young adults aged between 18 to 25. Our 6 week bespoke training program covers help with housing, benefits, getting back into either higher education or employment, re-writing a CV, interview skills, budgeting, healthy communication, mental health resilience strategies, cognitive behavioural therapy and healthy social media use. I'm the team leader for a bereaved by su***de support group in Lewisham called SOBS (Survivors of bereavement by su***de) we meet on the 3rd Thursday of the month. I'm also a team member of PARENT ENGAGE - a parent / peer led initiative sharing mindfulness and mental health resilience techniques to parents in Primary schools in South London. I have over 14 years experience working in the mental health sector, in Primary & Secondary schools, prisons as well as the charity sector.

I provide one to one and class based mindfulness mediation classes on zoom to children, teenagers and adults as well as gardening , and permaculture consultancy.

I am DBS checked, first aid trained and fully insured.

Email - catflannery@gmail.com / phone 07786266699