Grow Well Together: Benefits of Volunteering
Join us LIVE for an inspiring conversation on how volunteering in gardens nurtures both people and place.
Volunteering is often described as giving back — but research shows it also gives something powerful back to us.
In this webinar, we explore the growing evidence linking volunteering with improved mental health, greater life satisfaction, stronger social connection and reduced feelings of loneliness, stress and anxiety. Drawing on national research from Volunteering Australia, we’ll discuss why volunteering can be such a powerful contributor to wellbeing, particularly for people experiencing isolation, retirement, unemployment, chronic illness or major life change.
The conversation will also examine the emerging concept of “social prescribing” — where healthcare professionals connect people with meaningful community activities to support wellbeing and recovery — and the important role volunteering may play in the future of preventative health care.
We’ll then hear directly from volunteers at Kings Park and Botanic Garden, exploring why botanic gardens are such unique volunteering environments. Combining nature, social connection and shared purpose, gardens provide opportunities not only to contribute to conservation, education and community, but also to experience the wellbeing benefits of time spent in nature.
Through personal stories from volunteer guides and garden carers, this webinar will reveal how volunteering in botanic gardens can foster purpose, belonging, connection and wellbeing — and why giving your time may be one of the healthiest things you can do.
Meet our speakers:
Costa
Costa Georgiadis is one of Australia’s most recognisable and beloved gardening personalities – a landscape architect, environmental educator, author and television presenter with an infectious passion for plants, people and the natural world. Best known as the long-time host of ABC TV’s iconic Gardening Australia, Costa has inspired millions of Australians to reconnect with nature, grow food, care for the environment and strengthen their communities through gardening.
Mark Pearce
Mark is CEO of Volunteering Australia. He draws on his extensive experience in the social purpose and commercial sectors to lead Volunteering Australia to build a stronger, more connected, and resilient Australian community through volunteering.
Mark holds a Batchelor of Science (Politics and International Relations (Hons.)) from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Post Graduate Degree in Human Rights from School of Advanced Studies at the University of London, and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in Astrophysics.
Volunteers
Volunteers from Kings Park & Botanic Garden
Katherine Choules
Tony Dickinson,
Gillian Marshall