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Everyone should have the opportunity to experience how nature can make a difference in their lives - Roger Goulding, Community Delivery |
I was lucky, allowed to roam free in the 70's, along streams and cross meadows. My life has always been enriched by nature. I've met so many people throughout my career who talk about a moment, experience or special person who opened the door and built their confidence to explore and enjoy its wonders, acknowledging the transformational effect on their life, their development, aspirations, health, happiness and unsurprisingly how much they care about wildlife and the environment.
I was blessed to grow up at a time which provided many opportunities and some amazing people who shared their favourite places and things with me, undaunted by pressures of modern living, concerns over safety, growing my confidence to explore, discover, grow and thrive, inspired by nature, alone or with others by my side.
Unfortunately, for a rapidly increasing number this journey needs to start with a hand to hold and some encouragement. Others may need a little help to find new ways to reconnect or rediscover the benefits and importance of nature in their lives - to suit different situations and needs
WHAT WE DO
Local Projects and initiatives
Whether it's young people who have never been taken to a beach, walked in the woods or skimmed a stone with their parents or grandparents, to older people who aren't able to get to places or enjoy the countryside how they once did.
Super natured is committed to develop and deliver a range of discovery and re-connection initiatives with local partners to transform individuals lives forever.
Super natured is committed to develop and deliver a range of discovery and re-connection initiatives with local partners to transform individuals lives forever.
Although children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less interested in being outdoors in nature than better-off children, contact with nature has decreased amongst their whole generation, and that of many of their parents!
We aim to help maximise the potential of young people who experience educational, social and economic disadvantage using contact with nature as a catalyst for change. Our local work isn't exclusive to young people but targets other groups of society who are experiencing social and/or economic disadvantage - where better contact with nature can transform the quality of their lives. This bottom up approach will ensure that whilst we help change people's lives for the better, and that we collect evidence and case studies to help influence these sort of initiatives to happen elsewhere - to bring the benefits of nature to others who may need it!
Current projects we are fundraising for:-
Action and Influence
We can't provide local initiatives to reach everyone, everywhere, so Super natured also works to influence services and other organisations to explore the benefits of providing more and better opportunities for people to access the natural environment, for health, social welfare and to help create stronger communities.
Evidence
The body of evidence of the benefits of the outdoors is increasing, Super natured seeks to capture this and liaise with others to collect more robust evidence to help justify better ways of delivering some services (e.g. health, education, social services and even our justice system) to help people and save money longer-term by encouraging investment up front in interventions that may improve peoples lives and outlook, reducing the burden of treating many of the symptoms of our modern day society.
It's not just about individuals, but interventions and better planning of how to integrate nature into peoples lives can strengthen society and communities for the better. This requires real creativity, a longer-term vision to to truly care about both people and the environment.
We are also seeking to put much of the evidence in one place, so any individual or organisation can easily access it, and use it to justify growing their own, their peoples contact with nature.
It's not just about individuals, but interventions and better planning of how to integrate nature into peoples lives can strengthen society and communities for the better. This requires real creativity, a longer-term vision to to truly care about both people and the environment.
We are also seeking to put much of the evidence in one place, so any individual or organisation can easily access it, and use it to justify growing their own, their peoples contact with nature.