Sycamore Gap sapling gift set to aid mental health

A NORTH Tyneside occupational therapist hopes a Sycamore Gap sapling will help start conversations about grief and loss.

- SAM VOLPE Health reporter [e-mail]

Cath Darling, who works part time for the Northumbria Healthcare NHS Trust and also for herself at the nature-based bereavement service Elemental Occupational Therapy, is to receive a sapling - and it is likely to be planted in a “high footfall” area by the coast.

Cath said that that shows the values of the National Trust's Tree of Hope project - which is seeing 49 saplings grown from the fallen Sycamore Gap tree gifted to organisations and individuals around the UK. Nine will stay in the North East.

The saplings are being cared for by the National Trust's Plant Conservation Centre and are expected to be strong and study enough to plant next winter. Of the others to stay in the region, one will go to Holly’s Hope, the charity set up in memory of teenager Holly Newton.