OVER 550 trees and grasses were planted at The Grange Burn Creek near Greed Street on Thursday morning as part of a planting day aimed at improving wellbeing and helping to combat climate change.

The event was organised by Glenelg Hopkins Catchment Management Authority (GHCMA) and Wellways, as part of the Grange Burn Restoration Project, and provided people with an opportunity to improve their mental health while taking steps to offset their carbon footprint.

Wellways early intervention psychosocial response peer recovery worker, Bronwyn Margetts, said they had an “impressive turnout” despite the rainy conditions, with Wellways and GHCMA hoping to make it an annual event.

“It was a great team building exercise for our Wellways team, we have been having Zoom meetings for so long so it was really enjoyable to get our hands dirty and get out and have a chat,” she said.

“I think the participants really enjoyed being out amongst nature, meeting new people, and chatting to some of the staff.”

Ms Margetts said the participants benefited from being out in the fresh air and completing a task that removed the pressure often associated with social gatherings.

“The Wellways programs in Hamilton, Portland, and Warrnambool are always looking to create group situations for people to come along to who have become isolated,” she said.

“Situations where you’re looking at one another can be really confronting when people have had really bad bouts of mental health but with tree planting you’re standing side by side, you don’t have the eye contact, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want you, you’re just doing a task together.”

Participant, Lachlann Francis, said the relaxed environment of the tree planting day and the support from Wellways assisted him to feel comfortable and get out of his comfort zone.

“It’s just nice to get out, I don’t really get out a lot because of social anxiety so this is kind of forcing myself to actually try and improve on it a bit, which is something Wellways tries to help me with,” he said.

“Events like this do help me out because I wouldn’t do it otherwise, its that push, and Wellways offers these nice little environments to ease you into it.

“They never try to overwhelm you or push you too far out of your comfort zone, they just want to work with you at your pace, which is really nice.”

Ms Margetts said he encouraged anyone wanting to follow Wellways and GHCMA’s lead of offsetting their carbon footprint to plant trees on or around July 31, to celebrate National Tree Day.

“We want to take leadership in carbon offsetting in the Great South West Coast area, and invite other organisations to start looking at proactive ways to offset their carbon, and if they want to do a similar day in partnership with the Landcare groups in their area, we encourage them to do so,” she said.

“It would be great to see more hands out there planting trees.”