The GRoW Timeline

(Hoping to make this page a bit more visually appealing soon- But here is our story so far)

🌱 Early Foundations (2024)

Listening, learning, and building trust

• Conversations with community gardens and local partners

• Exploring green and nature prescribing in Australia and internationally

• Relationship-building with volunteers, community leaders, and health allies
  
  

🤝 Co-Design & Community Engagement (Jan–Jun 2025)

GRoW taking shape

• UniSC LAUNCH funding secured

• Ethics approval for community-based participatory research

• Two co-design workshops exploring access, trust, motivation, and sustainability in May and June

• Strong participation from community members, local organisations, health professionals, and volunteers
  
  

🧭 Hearing from our community (Jul–Sep 2025)

Making sure we were supporting and building on community strengths

• Synthesis of co-design insights (14 hours of conversations)

• Aligning our aims  with community capacity and readiness

• Listening to community, preparing training and support for  volunteer roles in the pathway

🌿 The  Pivot: Building Volunteer Capability (Nov 2025)

Strengthening our  human foundations and learning from each other

• Shift to prioritise volunteer readiness and sustainability

• Ethics approval for Phase 2 volunteer training

• Mental Health First Aid, First Aid, and community development training delivered

• Establishment of the GRoW Buddy peer support cohort and PCH volunteer hub

📣 Knowledge Sharing & Sector Connection (Nov 2025)

Sharing what we’re learning

• GRoW presented at the UniSC research conference (Ros and Jenny) and the ASPIRE Social Prescribing Conference in Brisbane (Ros , Jenny and Miatta)

• National and cross-sector connections strengthened- 

• Learnings shared from co-design, partnerships, and pathway development
  
  

💚 Investment & Growth (Dec 2025)

Backing community-led wellbeing

• Queensland Health & Wellbeing Grant secured (We will be able to proceed with a pilot of therapeutic Horticulture in first half of 2026)

• Funding to support inclusive infrastructure, volunteer activation, and wellbeing activities

• Perpetual Impact grant application submitted
  
  

🌻 GRoW in Action: Whats next? Pilot Phase (Jan–Jun 2026)

Putting the pathway into practice

• Small pilot planned with referred participants and GRoW buddy support

• Therapeutic horticulture delivered in community garden settings

• Participant and volunteer reflections, engagement data, and feasibility insights gathered

• Ongoing feedback with partners, volunteers, and referrers
  
  

🌳 Learning, Refinement & "Deep Scaling" (2026+)

GRoWing forward

• Understanding what worked, for whom, and why

• Refining the pathway based on lived experience

• Sharing outcomes with community, health partners, and funders

• Preparing and supporting  expansion into new communities