With the mission of starting a national conversation around mental illness, Janssen in partnership with leading mental health organisations Aware and See Change, present Grounded – Growing Conversations Around Mental Illness.
The central theme of the garden is how a conversation can be the first step on the journey of recovery. The stigma related to mental illness can result in a delay in reaching out for support. By educating ourselves on mental illness and the recovery process, we can break down this stigma, ultimately leading to a more open and positive environment for those living with or affected by mental illness.
Grounded is designed by landscape architect Maeve O’Neill who has created a space that welcomes both group and individual conversation in a setting that reflects the varied nature of the mental illness. It incorporates ideas and drawings that were conceived through a series of hands-on workshops with people living with or affected by mental illness.
The garden has been created with steel and stone, materials that reflect the strength and resilience of those living with mental illness. The design highlights that an open conversation can be the first step along the path to recovery thereby infusing a positive message of hope.
MAEVE O’ NEILL
Maeve O’Neill is a landscape architect and sculptor. She is the founder of Realise Landscape Architects, a landscape design practice that has a broad base of expertise in private gardens, parks and public realm spaces.
Prior to training as a landscape architect, Maeve was an art teacher. She continues to tutor in the landscape architecture degree programme at UCD. She is a full member of the Irish Landscape Institute (ILI) and is a registered teacher with the Teaching Council of Ireland.
Maeve previously designed the award-winning Strawberry Beds small show garden in Bloom 2017. This is her first large show garden.
