Beautiful Minds community committee is a volunteer group who advocate and raise funds and awareness for mental health services.

Through Harmony House in the Macarthur region, the group offers mental health services from Grenfell all the way to Wingecarribee.

Co-founder Sandra McDonald said Harmony House residents came from acute care in Campbelltown Hospital's Birunji and Waratah units.

The Waratah adult unit inspired Waratah Day two years ago to raise money to makeover its empty courtyard into a pleasant garden for patients.

This year, Waratah Day will raise money to makeover Birunji's courtyard into a garden for the unit's young patients to exercise and relax.

Waratah Unit's "outside area was a dust bowl and unacceptable, so we did it up, and what a difference it made to patients," Ms McDonald said.

"Now we're turning the spotlight on Birunji. The interior is good, but the outdoor areas have absolutely nothing in them except for seats.

"These are young people in a locked facility, 24/7, until they are well enough to go back into the community, with nothing to do.

"They really need physical exercise, beauty such as a lovely garden, and things to do, things that interest them, to push through tough times."

Birunji is a 20-bed unit and "full 365 days a year", she said. "A normal stay is 10 to 14 days. That's hundreds a year. That's a lot of youth.

Acute mental health care should not be just "clinical" but also integrate well-being as "a tool in their tool kit when they go home", Ms McDonald said.

"Look at the whole person, not just the mental illness. We don't want them in acute units; we want them in the community, staying well and knowing how to do that."

On Waratah Day, October 9, buy a $5 stem from sellers in Springetts Arcade in Bowral or the Highlands Marketplace in Mittagong.