Leanne Haywood

About

During my undergraduate degree, I was involved in a research project over the summer with Dr James Stiller, exploring nature-based interventions and their impacts on wellbeing.

Over the summer I was heavily involved in data collection and regularly visiting the interventions and seeing first-hand the positive impacts these interventions had on the people taking part in them.

After this I spent a couple of years working as a wellbeing coordinator primarily for those with dementia, creating and delivering a programme of activities to improve both physical and mental wellbeing.

This led me to wanting to explore and research further around how to improve wellbeing and mental health.

I completed my MSc in Psychological Wellbeing and Mental Health, and through this I realised I wanted to take this further and discovered my passion for research. I decided I wanted to start my PhD to investigate this area further and explore how to help people engage and connect with nature and gardening, with the hopes to become an academic in the area once I have completed my PhD.

PhD Research

Title: The impacts of gardening-based nature interventions and green social prescriptions used to promote wellbeing.

The research aims to investigate nature-based interventions and green social prescriptions with a focus on gardening activities and how these can be implemented in an intervention setting to improve engagement, nature connection and wellbeing.

The research I have undertaken so far has explored how to improve nature engagement and examined how and why people spend time in nature as well as how their experiences impact wellbeing.

There has also been a focus on how people perceive their nature interactions and experiences, which has generally been understudied.

My research so far has explored the current availability of nature-based interventions and green social prescriptions for wellbeing, with a primary focus on the views of the participants taking part in the interventions.

My research has also explored how and why people engage with nature, by exploring the differences in nature experiences and time in nature between those who spend time gardening and those who do not.

Following this, I have explored the use of self-reflection using diary methods and photo elements to explore gardening activities for wellbeing and connection to the natural world.

The aim of the rest of my research is to explore how to improve engagement with gardening activities to improve wellbeing and mental health, aiming to reduce barriers and improve access to gardening in order to see these positive outcomes and benefits.

Supervision Team

• Dr James Stiller
• Prof Esther Burkitt
• Dr Moitree Banerjee

Publications

• Haywood, L., Burkitt, E., & Stiller, J. (2026) Exploring direct experiences in nature and their impacts on mental wellbeing: a structured diary study. Current Psychology 
• Haywood, L., Stiller, J., & Canessa-Pollard, V. (2026). The Felt-Sense as a pathway to Nature relatedness: An exploratory mixed-method study with university students. Journal of Ecopsychology, 6, 2, 1-17. https://joe.nationalwellbeingservice.com/volumes/volume-6-2026/volume-6-article-2/
• Haywood, L. (2025). Nature’s Remedy. An Introduction to the Psychology Behind Nature’s Power to Heal. Amazon publishing. ISBN: 9798269884820
• Haywood, L. (2025). Mindful Minds: cultivating happiness and navigating your student journey. Amazon publishing. ISBN: 9798314220603
• Haywood, L., & Stiller, J. (2024). Data on Connection with the Natural Environment and Its Impact on Mental Health Among Allotment and Non-Allotment Owners. Journal of Open Psychology Data, 12(1).