Research and personal experience tells us that spending time outdoors connecting with nature helps us deal with stress, so at Get Out More we have designed an outdoor offer to help employees step away from workplace pressures and see work in a different light.  We were pleased when Yorkshire Water asked us to pilot our programme to promote wellbeing and resilience amongst their hard working staff.

The sessions take place at nearby Judy Woods, a short walk from the utility company’s Bradford HQ, but none of the participants had realised how close they were to a beautiful and accessible woodland.  Each week the group meets to walk to the site and take part in woodland activities that respond to the site and the season.

The sessions are based on the New Economic Foundation’s Five Ways to Wellbeing, a set of evidence-based actions that improve mental capital.  Give; Be Active; Keep Learning; Connect and Take Notice are all simple actions which we can practice everyday and which have been proven to help us feel good and function well in a demanding world.

The actions are woven into the sessions, which have included lighting campfires, picking autumn fruits to make pancake sauces and cordials, getting creative with colours and dyes from natural materials, carving sticks and discovering woodland trees and fungi.  The group spend time getting to know each other and the woodland itself and reflect on how implementing the Five Ways to Wellbeing impacts on their own sense of wellbeing through the week.

In their own words, the group are discovering how a little dose of nature can make a big impact on work and life:

“I’ve learnt how nature can lift your mood and instil positive planning, how to appreciate and value the things are around us”

“I will try to think of this session to keep calm in the week ahead”

“These sessions have helped me to consider work in a different light.  I will continue to CONNECT, LEARN, GIVE, BE ACTIVE and TAKE NOTICE – it really helps focus”

For more details about Get Out More’s nature-based Workplace Wellbeing programmes, click here