workshop:

City Foraging for Mental Health

with Lynn Shore

20 Jul 2025

Are you looking to boost your mood by connecting with your environment? Lynn Shore will take you on a mindful guided session to explore ways to engage with everyday nature in order to support your mental health. You will learn to know a few useful plant friends and their health effects in your immediate surroundings through using your senses, as well as techniques you can use to ground yourself with city nature. Connect with your inner Biophile! 

Tickets 

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Participants observing plants during Foraging for Mental Health -

With:
Lynn Shore

What you will do 

You will begin this workshop by walking in the surroundings of Mediamatic Biotoop, and discovering different wild herbs that can be used to boost your mood, calm you, energize you and overall help to reach a balanced state of mind. After foraging a few of these plants, you will have a guided tea session with Lynn, during which you can taste them in a brew and observe the effect which they have on your mind. You will leave with a deeper knowledge of monastic edible herbs in your environment and hopefully a sense of balance and calm. 

This workshop will take place outside in all weathers, as it is important to get fresh air in sun and rain. Please come prepared for it!

Lynn Shore

The natural world has always deeply fascinated Lynn – we are part of it and need to respect it. She expresses this through teaching, writing and being in green spaces. Her professional background is in science and special education, herbalism, permaculture and nature education. Outside of paid work she is involved in creating urban foraging sites and increasing food sovereignty.

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Our resident herbalist Lynn Shore showing St. John's-worts - St. John's wort family (family Hypericaceae ) includes herbs and shrubs with yellow flowers and leaves that have numerous, often black, dots. Among this family we can find Hypericum perforatum , better known by its common name St. John' Wort. This plant has had great meanings and importance for superstition and witchcraft and its medicinal  properties are well known since at least the Graeco-Roman times. Externally it has been used to to aid wound healing, burns and sunburns. Currently, it is… Iines Råmark

With: Lynn Shore, St. John's Wort

Tickets

Full price €45 | Discount price € 30
We give a discount to students, stadspas and artists. If this applies to you we might ask to see your kvk nr/portfolio or student card for this option.

Information

20th July, 15:00-17:30
We maintain a minimum of 6 participants.
Please note that, this workshop will be held in English.
For questions, please send an email to workshop@mediamatic.nl.

Read our ticket terms and conditions here.

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Picking marigold - Calendula officinalis, also known by the common name Marigold, has been known and used for medicinal properties since medieval times at least. It's important to notice that only the common deep orange-flowered variety is of medicinal value. Botanical doctors of the late Middle Ages used marigold as a remedy for various maladies, so much so that any medieval garden would have been incomplete without the marigold flower. One of the first clear historical written sources about this plant is… Iines Råmark

With: Sadhbh O'Donnell, Common marigold
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Participant making notes on yarrow - During our Foraging for mental health workshop Yarrow , or Achillea millefolium, is an   edible plant with medicinal properties. In the Middle Ages it was thought to have subtle powers for wounds and help with mitigating fevers.   Yarrow Tea is a good remedy for severe colds, being most useful in the commencement of fevers. Some of i ts old names such as Soldier's Wound Wort and Knight's Milfoil testify to its reputation as a vulnerary. Another popular name for it is Nosebleed, as i t is also quite well known for helping with   nose… Iines Råmark

With: Lynn Shore, Yarrow
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Picking elderflower during Foraging for Mental Health - Elder is a tree found throughout the Netherlands. In the spring, the tree produces small, white elderflowers and in the summer, dark purple berries. Both elderberries and elderflowers have been used for centuries as medicine. While elder is best known for its anti-viral properties, the flower also has benefits for mental health.  Elderflower extract has been proven to suppress neurotoxicity in the brain. Because of its detoxifying effects, it has been used as an antidepressant.    Suzana Orsolic

With: Sadhbh O'Donnell, Elderflower Champagne 2.0, Ground elder, Elder
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Foraging for Mental Health - With Lynn Shore Eszter Jámbor

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Smelling foraged linden leaf tea and making notes of the experience - The Linden tree is found throughout Europe and  North America. In the UK, it is often called the lime tree while in North America it is called the basswood. In traditional folk medicine, linden leaf has been used as a sedative to soothe anxiety. Many studies have found that compounds in the linden leaf mimic GABA, a chemical in the brain that slows down the nervous system.  Iines Råmark

With: Lynn Shore, Linden
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Foraging chamomile from an urban wild flower patch - During our Foraging for mental health workshop Iines Råmark

With: Lynn Shore, Chamomile