Boosting our wellbeing by connecting with nature

Guided by Wayne and Mick of the Surviving Minds Foundation, you’ll spend a morning or an afternoon immersed in nature in the beautiful Marl Pits Woods, between Affpuddle and Crossways. Taking a woodland walk, making a campfire, talking, or simply listening and connecting with the woods and wildlife around you… our aim is for you to recharge, refresh and renew.

We’re offering morning (9am-1pm) and afternoon (2pm-6pm) sessions. There’s a maximum of 15 people per session. We also need a minimum of seven people registered, in order to run a successful session, so if there are fewer than seven signed up for your session, we will be in touch to try and schedule you onto another session.

There is strong evidence that spending time in nature can benefit both your mental and physical wellbeing by:

• improving your mood
• reducing feelings of stress or anger
• helping you take time out and feel more relaxed
• improving your physical health
• improving your confidence and self-esteem
• helping you be more active
• helping you make new connections
• providing peer support.

As well as taking some much-deserved time away from your usual day at work, you could learn practical skills such as starting a campfire.

You’ll also learn to tune into your surroundings and focus on what’s around you in that moment.

Before the end of your time in the woodland we’ll talk about how you might weave your experiences into your daily life.

And during your session, if you need us, a member of the Here For Each Other team will be on hand to chat with you about more ways you can boost your own wellbeing, or how we can help you with some extra 1:1 or team support.

You can book an entire woodland session just for your team, or mix in and make new friends – we are flexible!

Here For Each Other wellbeing team members were the first ones to try this ‘green’ wellbeing support. Here’s what they thought:

I am still daydreaming about the forest ??, memories of a lifetime.

Thanks so much for organising it was a great morning, feeling very chilled out ready for the weekend. Really enjoyed spending time with you all.

Important stuff

• Access to the site is down a track. Please give yourself plenty of time to walk to the site once you’ve parked. If you need extra access support, please let us know in advance.
• We will be spending time around the campfire. Please bear this in mind if you have asthma or breathing difficulties.
• Please come kitted out for the location and the weather. This could be short sleeves and sunscreen, or an anorak and a woolly hat – we are in England after all! But you will need sturdy shoes, as we’ll be walking off-road and into the woods.
• If you’re joining a morning session, please bring your lunch. There’ll be an opportunity to eat and chat with others once the session has finished. There will be tea and coffee on hand throughout your session.
• There is a compost toilet on site.

Please don’t be late. Give yourself plenty of time to get here – it can often take longer to travel through Dorset than you might think.

Once you have booked your place we will send you joining instructions.

Please note that we have limited free places at these sessions so you should only book if you are sure that you are able to attend.

Booking: Please click here to book your place.