Celebrating The Summer
We have enjoyed a fabulous first Summer at Wild Soul Woods CIC, welcoming nearly 150 families into our Tilgate Woods space!
We offered a mix of activities for all ages and young people and their parents and carers enjoyed getting muddy, using all their senses and connecting with the natural world – as well as each other… One of the things we love about nature-based community activities is the safe space it offers members of ALL of our local communities to come together with a common purpose – to play!
We welcomed crafters, movers, builders, designers, runners, noisemakers, collaborators and everything in between. Everyone found a space to be themselves, families played together, I think we even bought the odd parent or carer a few minutes of peace to read a book!
We were absolutely delighted with the feedback we received on our anonymous feedback flyers – with 100% of attendees telling us our staff were not just ‘good’, they were EXCELLENT! I’m incredibly proud of our team! What we offer is all about connection and relationship building, and we’ve got an absolute STELLAR volunteer team.
Looking Ahead
Our new sessions will be starting after half term, and you can find details on our Facebook page. We are inviting ‘expressions of interest’ for the groups below… Once we have a viable number, we will work with those families to make sure the times and venues are accessible for them. We also offer a tiered pricing structure so we can support those who need help most (often stuck on low incomes because of caring responsibilities) while remaining viable.
We are offering a ‘classic’ Forest School session for young people aged 10+ in Tilgate Woods on Wednesday afternoons. This will be a drop off session for young people who cannot thrive in school-based education, for whatever reason. Social opportunities with built-in learning can be really hard to find, so we would love to build community for this peer group, whilst providing an opportunity to develop life-affirming and essential skills in a safe place with grounded, nurturing adults.
On a Friday afternoon, we are excited to be collaborating with The Charis Centre in West Green, where we will be developing their garden space into a Community Garden. We are inviting young people who would like to access STEM based learning activities for Key Stage 2 to join us in this space. Although it is ‘drop off’, we have chosen a space where parents and carers can be visible (there’s a cafe next to the garden!) for reassurance for both young people and adults. Often children this age who aren’t in school are struggling with school trauma or emotional regulation, and our training means we can offer a safe environment so learning can take place as well as making friends!
Lastly, (inspired by a recent Country File episode – thank you Frank!) we have developed a ‘SisterWood’ group, which will support anxious & neurodivergent teenage girls to find community. We know first-hand that this group – when unable to access school-based peer groups – can really struggle with social isolation, which can have a devastating impact on the whole family. We are an inclusive space inviting young women – with their adult parents and carers if needed – to come share a ‘female’ fire and find their tribe. We will ask potential attendees whether they would prefer this to happen in the Woods or the Community Garden space.
Reaching Out
All our sessions are inspired, developed and delivered by members of the relevant Community, supported by the trained and experienced Directors of Wild Soul Woods CIC. ALL our staff are currently volunteers, but we would LOVE to offer employment opportunities for parents in those same communities. It’s a Catch 22 for us, as making the sessions financially viable often means we are inaccessible to the very families that need us. It’s only through the support of organisations like Resolve that we can do what we do!
We desperately need a safe space for our Therapeutic 121s and small group sessions to happen. We are very privileged to have access to the fabulous woods in Tilgate, as well as the Community Garden space at the Charis Centre. These venues work beautifully for public access with ample parking and toilet facilities etc. However, there are extremely vulnerable young people who need a private, secure space to feel safe.
If you can support us, either financially or with resources (we always need handheld tools, paracord, wool and firewood!) or land, please do get in touch!
Thank you so much for reading – and thank you again to the Team at Resolve who have made ALL the above possible!