And now he’s part of a program that drops a smidge of nature back in the urban.

The former boilermaker of 22 years talks surprisingly lovingly about gardening.

Perhaps because gardening helped turn his life around, after leaving work to take care of his son led to isolation that took him to the point of “crazy” and created dire thoughts about the future.

Volunteer gardening allowed his regrowth as a man.

The 56-year-old Department of Housing tenant, is a volunteer mentor at the Bidwell community garden, part of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Family and Community Services Community Greening program, begun in 1999, aiming to make public housing communities happier, reduce crime and make people physically and mentally healthier.

Unemployed for eight years and looking after his son, Mr Donaldson said he didn’t really understand the concept when someone from Blacktown Council came knocking, asking him to be involved, but said he needed something to do.

“So I was slowly going crazy. And that is the start of depression. I was going into depression,” he said.

“You can only do so much gardening and cleaning. My place was spotless. The white gloves, no worries.

“I think I would have gone….I think I would have gone...I just didn’t see any other option.

“It’s the pride in the place now. This is what I’ve done. This is what I’ve achieved from being that sad, shy man, depressed.

“To people who come here now, I’m their inspiration, I’m their happy face.

“If you can smile or say good morning to someone, or g’day, you’ve changed their day.

“I go down to the local shopping centre and I’m like the local hero.

“‘Oh, there Ray. How’s the garden going Ray?’

“Before that...it is the worst thing on earth.”

Program coordinator Philip Pettitt said almost 100,000 people had been involved in 627 regular and youth-led gardens in NSW, with an aim for 850 gardens and 150,000 participants by 2021.

FACS spent $942,200 to continue to roll-out the program over last financial year and this, providing more than $2.4 million since 2011/12.

Mr Pettit describes his job as part community development, part social support, part horticulturalist.

“So many times, people actually get you out there and you say, ‘right, what do you want to learn today?’ and it just ends up being a chat,” he said.

“And it’s just that support...they’ve got some issues going on they want to talk about.”

Wife and husband University of Michigan emeritus professors, Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, were the pioneers in the 70s of providing empirical evidence for the psychological benefits of nature, initially showing the restorative benefits for critical thinking and self control.

In the 2010 journal, Directed Attention as a Common Resource of Executive Function, the Kaplans describe the “multifacet power” of nature in urban areas and reference various studies, showing a range of benefits.

One of their studies had two groups - more than 4500 people combined - who reported a “feeling of peace and tranquility” at 4.2 and 4.5 on a 5-point scale when gardening.

They said the benefits were likely to occur in varying degrees to people who participate in community gardening programs.

“They are catalysts, seeds of hope, of success, of brighter futures,” they wrote.

“It is also an activity based place, calling for action, responsibility and nurturing.

“Nearby nature has the capacity to promote reasonable behaviour, foster community and bring joy to people’s lives.’

“Volunteering leads to increased self worth and reduced stress and a sense of calm.”

Other benefits include more social interaction, greater sense of safety and belonging, better ability to cope with challenges, lower levels of fear and less aggressive and violent behaviour, less chronic mental fatigue, which means people are less likely to be impulsive and irritable.

Now University of Western Sydney researchers are undertaking a Royal Botanic Gardens and FACS-funded study to examine community members’ perceived benefits of community gardens.

From his volunteering Mr Donaldson has worked for more than 11 years as a groundskeeper at Emerton’s Holy Spirit Catholic church and school.

He still sounds on the verge of tears when talking about the faith shown in him by program coordinators.

“I talk about it passionately but I’m hooked on it. If I had a chance years ago I would not have been a boilermaker, I would have been a gardener,” he said.

“I’m now the teacher, teaching other people to get their passion.

“The Work for the Dole people that I deal with at the moment (with the church)...this class are the ones that suffer from mental illness, depression, stuff like that.

“It’s taking pride in their place and taking pride in themselves and their garden.

“And it’s lifting them.”