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Outdoor learning for health and wellbeing

Engage in outdoor activities to promote mental health, resilience, and connection with nature. Explore green care therapies, reflective processes, and wilderness experiences for transformative outcomes.

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Outdoor learning for health and wellbeing

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  1. Outdoor learning for health and wellbeing Dr Theresa Compton Miss Sarah Howes

  2. Who we are….. and our interests Sarah Howes Mental Health Nurse Rites of passage facilitator Nature enthusiast, walker & wild swimmer Theresa Compton Dr turned medical educator Woodland owner & Wild swimmer

  3. Who are you and what brought you?

  4. Sarah’s story • Ecopsychological processes to support student role transition • Student and staff ‘natural wellbeing’ activities to counter occupational stress • Research - use of ‘green prescriptions; for Dartmoor & Exmoor National Parks • Team member - NurSuS.eu • International Wilderness guides network member

  5. Reflective processes in nature • ‘Being away’ from everyday tensions • Explore stress, resilience & coping within roles. • Elicit themes of caring for self, others and the natural world • Share and witness personal stories and those of the natural setting. • Consider connection & belonging. GREEN CARE: • Walk and Talk therapy • Mindfulness processes • Art therapy & creativity • Metaphor and story • Embodied and sensory experiences • Focussing in nature exercises • Extended wilderness trips • Transpersonal processes

  6. Transitions .. you know my first job was on an inpatient acute ward.. it was a kind of a nuclear reactor of emotions, it was quite a strange environment to choose to work in.. having the experience of being in the woods and seeing in myself others act, think and feel differently, I had almost been freed up.. (Jack).

  7. Finding personal meaning • … having the time to reflect stories with that group of people, having such knowledgeable facilitators as well, uh helped me to realise, to have an epiphany if you like… , having time to reflect on the world I live in, finding meaning about how I see my world, myself in it, and how I see others in it too.. That was revelationary’ [sic] Jack

  8. Devon, U.K. #headsabovewater Jaen, Spain

  9. Wild pedagogy for staff development • Walk, route, location : Dartmoor • Risk and safety • Wild pedagogy • Activities : reflection, team building • Six touchstones of the wild pedagogy as described by Stephen Sterling in 2017 • 1. Agency and the role of nature as a teacher • 2. Wildness and challenging ideas of control • 3.Complexity, the unknown, spontaneity • 4. Locating the wild • 5. Time and practice, finding time for our own practice • 6. Cultural change

  10. Impact and outcomes “An army marches on its stomach” Competitiveness in activities Feedback - positive “we should get someone in to do it properly” Collaborations and research Building dens

  11. Physic garden teaching • Campus space • Medicinal plants • Multisensory teaching session • Wellbeing and transformative outcomes ‘It is difficult to get stressed in a garden’ ‘This is the first time I have had sympathy with the ‘natural remedies’’

  12. Woodland ownership • Working with nature – with trees, things happen slowly • Working with the seasons –academic calendar • Taking responsibility – otters, dormice, wildlife trust surveys, and humans • Relaxing and enjoying – forest school • Tools of the trade

  13. How this related to health and wellbeing for me • Slow down • Stress management – cortisol and NHS forests • Survival on ‘minimal stuff’ -confidence • Self knowledge, acting in accordance with values • Flexibility and creativity, improvising

  14. Different kinds of activities SURVIVING Fire lighting/Cooking/eating Building/shelter Collaborating/team THRIVING Making/creating Observing/mindfulness Playing/collaborating

  15. Activity - explore/medical tour of the physic garden

  16. Activity – observe

  17. Activity – create using foraged materials

  18. What now/ what next?

  19. Opportunities for further learning development for educators • Forest school qualifications • Outdoor walker • Outdoor first aid • Risk assessment • Bushcraftqualifications

  20. Resources to explore… 1. Wild Pedagogies- Touchstones for Re-Negotiating Education and the Environment in the Anthropocene Editors: Jickling,B., Blenkinsop, S., Timmerman, N., De Danann Sitka-Sage, M. 2. ID guides eg – collins complete guide to british trees 3. learning with Nature (robb, M, mew, V, richardson, A) – ideas for activities 4 http://nhsforest.org/evidence 5 Great Outdoors: How Our Natural Health Service Uses Green Space To Improve Wellbeing – briefing statement from faculty of public health http://www.champspublichealth.com/writedir/9ee3FPH%20green%20space%20briefing.pdf Centre for sustainable healthcare- https://sustainablehealthcare.org.uk/

  21. Some useful references • Bell, S.L., Phoenix, C., Lovell, R. & Wheeler, B.W. (2015) ‘Seeking everyday wellbeing: The coast as a therapeutic landscape’. Social Science & Medicine. 142, pp. 56-67 • Bell, S., Hamilton, V., Montarzino, A., Rothnie, H., Travlou, P. & Alves, S. (2008). Greenspace and Quality of Life: A Critical Literature Review. Stirling: Openspace & Greenspace Scotland. • Bird, W. (2007). Natural Thinking: Investigating the links between the natural environment, biodiversity and mental health. London:RSPB. • Bowler, D.E., Buyung-Ali, L.M., Knight, T.M. & Pullin, A.S. (2010). A systematic review of evidence for the added benefits to health of exposure to natural environments. BMC public health 10, 456. • Bragg, R., Atkins, G. (2016). A review of nature-based interventions for mental health care. Natural England Commissioned Reports, Number 204

  22. Useful references • . • HM Government (2018). A Green Future: Our 25 year plan to improve the environment. London. • Jepson, R., Robertson, R., & Cameron, H. (2010). Green prescription schemes: mapping and current practice. Edinburgh: NHS Health Scotland. • Jordan, M. & Hinds, J. (2016), Ecotherapy. Theory, Research & Practice. London: Palgrave MacMillan. • Jordan, M. (2015) Nature and Therapy: understanding counselling and psychotherapy in outdoor spaces. London: Routledge. • United Nations. (2015). Sustainable Development Goals: 17 Goals to Transform our World. Accessed on 09/12/11. Available from: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals • White, M.P., Pahl, S., Ashbulby, K. & Herbert, S. (2013). Feelings of restoration from recent nature visits. J. Environ. Psychol. 35, pp. 40-51

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