Thursday
18
April
Wild skills project to help people with mental health issues
19/06/2021 @ 10:48
Local wildlife reserves are too be used to help people struggling with their mental health.
Pwll Penart, Dolforwyn Woods and some areas of Open Newtown are to be used as part of the ‘Wild Skills Wild Spaces’ (WSWS) project.
The team from Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust met at Llyn Coed y Dinas Nature Reserve last week to exhibit the brand new ecotherapy programme aimed at adults and young people struggling with their mental health.
"Ecotherapy is the term given to a range of activities and treatments that reconnect people with nature and the environment, in order to improve health and wellbeing," said a Trust spokesperson.
"Research carried out by the Wildlife Trusts and Essex University has shown that such activities can reduce stress and anxiety and other low level mental wellbeing concerns."
Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's Head of Health and Wellbeing, Carla Kenyon, has been working in partnership with Powys Teaching Health Board to develop a project that empowers people who would not typically engage in outdoor activities and/or prescribed therapeutic interventions.
Staff from local mental health services have taken part in taster sessions. These have already generated a lot of interest, with many eager to refer people to Wild Skills Wild Spaces.
With funding from the Welsh Government RDP scheme, the emphasis is on providing free, inclusive and accessible sessions which are non-clinical and participants partake at their own pace.
The ecotherapy sessions will be run from a range of Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves, including Llyn Coed y Dinas and Severn Farm Pond in Welshpool, Dolforwyn Woods in Abermule, as well as Open Newtown site, ‘Cultivate’ Community Gardens and Pwll Penarth.
Activities will include wildlife walks, bushcraft skills like fire lighting, growing projects where participants will get to harvest and cook their own food and many other exciting opportunities. The programme will be run on a 12 week basis, with sessions lasting for two and half hours, once a week for small groups.
Project Manager, Frances Louise believes that the success of the programme relies on the WSWS team keeping in touch with participants in the long term, setting up ‘friends of groups’ for each site so that they can continue to meet and improve their wellbeing.
The inspiration for Wild Skills Wild Spaces came from Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s ‘My Place’ project, running wellbeing sessions based on the ‘5 ways to wellbeing’ which are connecting with nature, being active, taking notice, learning and giving back. Findings from the project in 2019, revealed that 100% of participants felt happier, more confident and less angry; some gained employment as a result of acquiring new skills and improving self-confidence.
WSWS colleagues will be working with a research team led by Professor Diane Crone FRSPH at Cardiff Met University to evaluate the success of the programme and provide standards and a framework for Welsh Government to hopefully influence social policy.
If the project is as successful as Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust hope, it could potentially carve a pathway and framework for similar schemes to be set up in other parts of Wales.
To find out more about Wild Skills Wild Spaces, head to https://www.montwt.co.uk/WSWS
Pwll Penart, Dolforwyn Woods and some areas of Open Newtown are to be used as part of the ‘Wild Skills Wild Spaces’ (WSWS) project.The team from Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust met at Llyn Coed y Dinas Nature Reserve last week to exhibit the brand new ecotherapy programme aimed at adults and young people struggling with their mental health.
"Ecotherapy is the term given to a range of activities and treatments that reconnect people with nature and the environment, in order to improve health and wellbeing," said a Trust spokesperson.
"Research carried out by the Wildlife Trusts and Essex University has shown that such activities can reduce stress and anxiety and other low level mental wellbeing concerns."
Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust's Head of Health and Wellbeing, Carla Kenyon, has been working in partnership with Powys Teaching Health Board to develop a project that empowers people who would not typically engage in outdoor activities and/or prescribed therapeutic interventions.
Staff from local mental health services have taken part in taster sessions. These have already generated a lot of interest, with many eager to refer people to Wild Skills Wild Spaces.
With funding from the Welsh Government RDP scheme, the emphasis is on providing free, inclusive and accessible sessions which are non-clinical and participants partake at their own pace.
The ecotherapy sessions will be run from a range of Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust nature reserves, including Llyn Coed y Dinas and Severn Farm Pond in Welshpool, Dolforwyn Woods in Abermule, as well as Open Newtown site, ‘Cultivate’ Community Gardens and Pwll Penarth.
Activities will include wildlife walks, bushcraft skills like fire lighting, growing projects where participants will get to harvest and cook their own food and many other exciting opportunities. The programme will be run on a 12 week basis, with sessions lasting for two and half hours, once a week for small groups.
Project Manager, Frances Louise believes that the success of the programme relies on the WSWS team keeping in touch with participants in the long term, setting up ‘friends of groups’ for each site so that they can continue to meet and improve their wellbeing.
The inspiration for Wild Skills Wild Spaces came from Lancashire Wildlife Trust’s ‘My Place’ project, running wellbeing sessions based on the ‘5 ways to wellbeing’ which are connecting with nature, being active, taking notice, learning and giving back. Findings from the project in 2019, revealed that 100% of participants felt happier, more confident and less angry; some gained employment as a result of acquiring new skills and improving self-confidence.
WSWS colleagues will be working with a research team led by Professor Diane Crone FRSPH at Cardiff Met University to evaluate the success of the programme and provide standards and a framework for Welsh Government to hopefully influence social policy.
If the project is as successful as Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust hope, it could potentially carve a pathway and framework for similar schemes to be set up in other parts of Wales.
To find out more about Wild Skills Wild Spaces, head to https://www.montwt.co.uk/WSWS
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