The Wilderness Foundation UK helps young people and adults to reconnect with society and themselves through outdoor facilitation and mentoring.
Their programmes highlight the positive impact of wild nature on personal and social wellbeing. We caught up with the team there to find out more.
Developing stewardship for nature and wild places is embedded into our programmes.
Our mission is to preserve wild places and change lives through outreach programmes that educate, inspire and reconnect people facing a number of challenges in their lives. We create opportunities for those wishing to learn more about their relationship with the natural world and what they can do to protect it. The content of our Wilderness programmes aims to equip and enable people to acquire skills to navigate their futures safely and successfully. We are working to keep people healthy and our planet wild!
Throughout the last year as a foundation we have faced challenges, as have the people we support. During lockdown much like everyone else, our office closed, and the Chatham Green Site in Chelmsford was empty. We took our therapy sessions online, we discovered Zoom along with the rest of the nation, and we reached out to those in need through our social media channels and website. We also created Wildtime on our website, which allowed us to share our love for nature while teaching others how to connect with nature to increase their sense of wellbeing. Our social media following increased dramatically as we connected to more and more people.
Once the restrictions started to lift, we restarted our work on site. It was a slow and steady process but now, over a year on, we are busier than we have ever been, with multiple groups on site every day throughout the week. Since lockdown we have seen an increase in referrals across our programmes. We have also gained access to more funding due to the pandemic which has allowed us to run more programmes for vulnerable young people and adults. We have definitely found that people are wanting to connect more with nature since lockdown.
During May 2020 Natural England surveyed that ‘forty one percent of adults have reported that ‘nature and wildlife is more important than ever to wellbeing’ (The People and Nature Survey for England , 2020). Nature can improve our mental and physical health and that is why we do the work we do. Our affinity towards nature is genetic, with many studies containing supporting evidence of the positive impacts of nature on people. Nature can improve moods, reduce feelings of stress or anger, improve confidence, boost self esteem, and increase our activity levels.
This summer is packed full of fun activities dedicated to supporting nature – encouraging wild places to flourish whilst also helping people to reconnect with nature and be the best they can be, both mentally and physically. Visit our website to find out more about our summer activities which include family bushcraft, forest bathing, holiday camps, therapy training and therapy camps.
Follow us on social media for updates about our work and events @WildernessUK.