Dear Friends,

It has definitely been quite a year of change and adaptation.  We have all experienced the same trends on a local and national scale that are out there internationally – including covid, climate change, equality and diversity awareness, political ups and downs, impacts of population, conflict, migrants, and increased urban and industrial development, the loss of green spaces and biodiversity…not to mention family, school, work etc.

Both the environment and human society have been affected by these trends and not in a good way in my opinion. However, as a society we have become more aware than ever of climate change, plastic and air pollution, biodiversity at risk,  and the positive impacts of nature on mental health. Whilst it is easy to find fault and feel that we have not done enough – which may be true – it is a big step forward that subjects around mental health and the environment are more common thread now and not limited to the few.

With this backdrop in mind and against with the latest covid crisis – we have managed a really positive year – much of which is down to the amazing team I have here alongside me in the Foundation, and the key support of funders and friends such as yourselves.

Covid really affected mental health in young people and families have suffered too during lockdown. During this year we have substantially increased our outreach for outdoor nature based therapy and we have given over 23000 hours of support to people in need. This has been made possible through generous funding which enabled us to take on new outdoor facilitators and therapists to complement our regular team. We have grown our Association of Outdoor Therapists and Practitioners to over thirty people and we meet regularly for zoom or outdoor sessions to improve our knowledge and sharing of our mutual work with each other, as well as deliver courses and individual, couples and family work. Talks in our group have included forest therapy, Symbolism and Jung in the outdoors -and next year’s list so far, we have  CPD sessions on understanding autism and another on climate change. This collective of practitioners who are involved with the Foundation has been one of the highlights of my CEO engagement as they all bring so much to the table and are passionate to help young people at risk.

As part of this we have increased our on the ground training of outdoor therapists, practitioners and volunteers – helping them to fully understand our ethics and values, feel part of the mission and vision, and have the tools and know-how of working with challenging and vulnerable clients in all weathers and terrains both safely and professionally.  We are seeking to accredit our wilderness therapy training in 2022 as we are one of the only organisations that have the long wilderness therapy trail experience over many years versus the shorter engagement with nature therapy that is more common place.

During this year our Environmental Education team have also expanded to four staff. They have reached over 4500 participants during the year which is remarkable when one considers much of the year was locked down or limited for schools to participate. Regular work through lockdown has included our special education needs in the outdoors delivery and they do transformative work in creating freedom for the children and young adults they work with to play, experience and learn about the natural world around them. Through these experiences they also improve their social skills which is critical for their independence and development.

The education team have used lockdown to grow and develop the Wild Schools programme. This will focus on sustainability and climate change, and also expand their Green Influencer and Eco Defenders programmes which engages young people in the environment and grows their leadership. Leadership has also continued with trails in Scotland for Haberdasher’s Livery Scholars who paddled Loch Shiel in Scotland and then did conservation work with the Nevis Foundation.

Of significance has been our ability to work responsively with the issues that have bubbled up around us within society and we have run a range of new programmes such as Domestic Abuse interventions, working with young refugees, adult, teens with significant depression, self-harm, eating disorders and other presentations,  and our very popular children’s therapy outdoor programmes. We have rebooted our Scotland programmes offering mental health and employability trails in the Cairngorms this past year – and including our other partners estates in 2022.

Feedback is overwhelmingly positive from our research, schools and parents, as well as the individuals themselves. The graduation ceremonies such as the ones we run for TurnAround  include our vulnerable teens presenting themselves to an audience of parents and others with a new found confidence and self-awareness.

This work reminds us of why we love our work so much, and why giving time, patience, non-judgement and good listening to young people gives them the boost and hand up that they were aching for. So little of this good human ‘ stuff’ goes a very long way…

Finally, the hard but essential graft of governance and compliance has been overhauled and vetted by our Governance Committee who have been outstanding in their commitment, as well as the hard work of other trustees who give a lot of time to our Social Benefits, Environment, Finance and Scotland committees, in addition to main board meetings.  They serve as key volunteers and have been a real strength for the core team this year with their support. We have diversified and brought more women into our mix and will continue to make sure we stay as relevant and reflective of our community as possible.

Our new Chairman Vincent Thomson has been a superb leader for us this year and is taking us into a phase of new growth and focus in 2022 to ensure we spread our impact wider and make more difference to people and wild nature.

Much work has been done on climate change and the environment through my engagement with the Essex Climate Action Commission and the Essex Renewal Fund. Our environmental trustees have also been tasked with throwing themselves into helping us strengthen our action around wilderness, green space and landscape protection, along with being clear about our principles and ethics of how we view ourselves in relation to the natural world as a whole.

What I share now is the tip of the iceberg. We are building a great social media presence with the outreach of Clare Martin who leads on marketing – and an increasing number of people are reaching out to us to offer support, engagement and to learn from us. We are happily busy, continue to remain excited and passionate about making a real difference to healthy planet and healthy people, and see ourselves as the lucky ones to do this work.

However, a good break over Christmas, hopefully Covid free, will be a welcome rest and retreat.

We wish the same to all of you and look forward to further communications and engagement with you all in the New Year. Hopefully during this break we can all take time to enjoy walks and nature, spend quality time with people we love,  and have time to reflect on what makes us grateful and how we make the gift of each day count.

Wishing you wildness.

Jo and the team.