When the Guildford Mental Health Liaison Group made a special visit to The Priory Hospital, we were obviously impressed by the therapeutic regime and high staffing ratio, as well as the excellent induction and training programmes.

But what struck us most was the relaxed environment – the beauty of the garden, the opportunities for tennis, the single rooms with en suite facilities. It is so obvious that the healing of emotional and psychiatric wounds can happen so much better where there is space and privacy and somewhere apart from the hidden pressure of the daily grind which cause the all-encompassing stress. At The Priory there was a gentle sense of retreat, very different from the rather bleak old institutions but reminiscent of their space.

However, there is a fundamental flaw with The Priory – the cost! So we were asking ourselves how we can find this same space, on a low budget in the community; a safe haven without walls.

Maybe we need to start with what we have. Friendship and mutual support provide space. Holidays, outings and walks give time out and away from worry and anxiety. Special places where we know we will feel at home – The Den, The 18-50 Club, Ludlow Road.

But there could be more.

Do we think of using the resources of religious houses where there are grounds and peace and "spirituality"?

Do we do enough to create "time out" by organising specific programmes which enrich the soul-visits to art galleries, historical gardens, places for meditation and reflection-therapies that rely on nothing more than travelling to the very ordinary spot that is genuinely in harmony with our best selves.

I remember watching the geese and swans in the Peter Scott Wildfowl sanctuary in Gloucestershire some years ago. They looked beautiful because, in such a place, they were allowed to flourish in an environment free of pollution, toxic pesticides, hunters, etc. Maybe there is a lesson here; the world is so hard to our emotions that it needs sanctuary for us too to be ourselves.

Jeremy Boutwood