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Storytelling for nature

19/5/2023

 
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Sat 17 Jun 10-12pm - Join us for this free online workshop to discover how your stories could help tackle the nature and climate emergencies.

Your stories about caring for Planet Earth could help tackle the nature and climate emergencies. Authentic communication and creativity are among the most important tools we all have.

Join our FREE workshop between 10am-12noon on Saturday 17 June to take the time to put into words your love, fear, anger and hope for our Planet.
  • What would you say to someone who is struggling with eco grief and climate anxiety?
  • How can you help yourself if you are that person? 
Read some of the short stories we have collected so far.

BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE >>


Authentic life stories are powerful and there so are many ways to tell them. If more of us tell our stories about our connections to nature, more people will hear us and some will start to explore their own connections.

This workshop is a tool for you to find or to support your voice – what resonates with you is important when you express yourself in writing. With pen and paper, you will be guided through various writing exercises, followed by the opportunity, if you wish, to share some of your writings with the group.

At the end of the workshop we will focus on ‘How to keep well in an age of climate and nature emergencies.' This might inspire you to write a short piece for the Daily Reading for Earth after the workshop.

In offering this workshop, we wish to support your personal writing as well as potentially the creation of more short pieces for our Daily Readings for Earth with the aim of supporting those struggling with eco-sorrow and climate anxiety. The workshop will be led by Surefoot associate and published writer Gazelle Buchholtz.

Eco Anxious Resilient Peer Support is a new and developing project from The Surefoot Effect focussed on creating and sharing mental wellbeing resilience tools for people who strive for enlightened and just societies that respect Earth and all life. Have a look at our self care planning tool.
BOOK YOUR FREE PLACE HERE >>
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Find out more by emailing audrey@surefoot-effect.com.
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Eco Anxious Resilient Peer Support was inspired by the spirit of Glasgow’s 2021 Climate Justice protest and with a £10k grant from The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland - Together for Our Planet programme.

Sonia's illustrated story

10/3/2023

 
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Creativity is sparked, as we continue to explore the many ways to navigate our way through these challenging times.
Our Eco-anxiety peer support is attracting a great range of people, with many different voices, experiences and stories to share. Scientist and nature lover Sonia created this touching and inspiring series of illustrations in response to the climate emergency. 
 
We welcome all contributions to the group in whatever formats enable people to express themselves. Please contact us to discuss how best we can share your voice, experience and stories. Thank you.
 
Sonia’s illustrated story
‘I am so happy that I can share these. I felt so alone when I drew them. I just hope people will find me and feel free to connect with me if they struggle with climate distress or any other issue related with this.
​'I feel better now because I connected with you. I feel better because I know some people care. Because I met some people that even work every day on this!’ 
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Are you inspired to share your experience?​
We welcome all contributions to the group in whatever formats enable people to express themselves. Please contact us to discuss how best we can share your voice, experience and stories. Thank you.
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For more information, please email audrey@surefoot-effect.com

Self Care Planning Tool

30/9/2022

 
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​Essential Self Care Planning for Mental Resilience in a Climate and Nature Emergency 
 
​Most people who are gripped by fear, sadness, anger, confusion, powerlessness and other strong emotions are vulnerable to episodes of burnout or hopelessness. Strong emotions drive change and Earth and society are undoubtedly made better by compassionate activists and campaigners. But constructive progress can often seem out of reach. 

Self Care Planning Tool

​At times like these, making time for self care, and connecting with resilient peers, will be among the most effective ways to re-empower yourself to continue striving for the just and enlightened society you aim to help bring about.

Self care planning is a proven and empowering wellbeing tool used by many people with lived experience of mental health issues.  It's a tool that helps you work out what you can do to help yourself when you're struggling, and where to access the right support.  It's also a tool to help you have constructive wellbeing conversations with people you know are struggling.

This particular self care planning tool was developed by people with lived experience of severe mental health issues and the Paisley based organisation ACUMEN (part of the charity Recovery Across Mental Health [RAMH]) during the Covid 19 Lockdown in 2020.  There are many other more detailed self care planning tools you could use and one of the best known is WRAP. 

Give yourself a hand

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The ACUMEN self care plan is based on five questions to help give yourself a hand (see attachment) when you, or someone you know, is struggling to cope.
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Five key questions

​1. How am I feeling today?
2. What can I do if I'm not feeling like myself today?
3. What has helped me in the past if I have been struggling?
4. Who can I call/speak to if I'm really struggling?
5. What do other people need to know about me to help me if I'm really struggling?
More information
  • Download guidance PDF about how to approach the five questions constructively
  • More on ACUMEN Supported Self Care Planning (please note - SSCP service is no longer running but some of the content on the web page is useful).

Meet Audrey

5/8/2022

 
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Audrey often feels gripped to rebel against the forces destroying the natural world and wants to reach out to others who experience the deep despair, grief, guilt and hopelessness that can come with a deep love of Planet Earth so that we can share insights into what keeps us compassionate and resilient.
Audrey was a local newspaper reporter and features writer before moving into public relations and a role at the BBC Bristol (home of the Natural History Unit), where she had occasional opportunities to work with high profile nature campaigners and communicators like Sir David Attenborough and Chris Packham.

She was offered a newly created role as a broadcast campaigns project manager for the BBC2 series 'Restoration' - in 2002 this was a brand new type of audience voting led programming about local communities fighting to save their historic buildings at risk.  Audrey supported around 70 community groups across the UK who were battling to save everything from a vast Victorian swimming baths in Manchester to a tiny wool mill at Knockando, near Aberdeen, and gained some insights into what motivated the people involved and why some campaigns were successful and others failed. 

Inspired by the dedication and determination she witnessed in those Restoration communities, she took on community development role for a rural local authority and then laterly worked for a mental health charity that aims to help empower inspirational people who are managing their severe mental health issues using self care planning techniques.

Audrey has campaigned on a range of animal welfare and environmental issues since she was a teenager and has been very grateful for the help to manage strong emotions that she's received from a peer support programme for the friends and family of alcoholics.  She's also a long time sailor who's equally grateful for the untamed wilderness of the sea.  
 
Peer, Eco Anxious Resilient Peer Support (Scotland)
Audrey is Peer Supporter for Surefoot's free-to-access Eco-Anxiety Peer Support >>

Recognising eco anxiety as a source of empowerment and purpose to develop personal resilience and defend Earth.
Eco Anxious Resilient Peer Support (Scotland) is funded in 2022-23 by a Big Lottery (Together for Our Planet) award.

Peer support - why now?

3/8/2022

 
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In 2021, Glasgow witnessed its largest ever public display of unity during the COP26 UN Climate Change conference. 

​​There was a life-affirming, intergenerational atmosphere of solidarity around climate justice. But what's happened since?
The high hopes once again rapidly dimmed to a glimmer behind thick layers of broken political and corporate promises, greenwashing, apathy and hellish statistics about species extinction, pollution and concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere.

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While politicians urged environmental activists at COP26 to keep challenging the status quo, they ignored the mental and physical wellbeing toll of campaigning. Meanwhile, behind the scenes, the laws on protesting in the UK were being tightened to ensure the continuation of that status quo.
 
In response, Surefoot and environmental campaigner, Audrey Baird joined forces to devise and secure funding for EAR Peer Support. Surefoot’s Managing Director, Pamela Candea shared her views on the need for EAR Peer Support,
“I’ve been doing what I can to help tackle global warming for 15 years and sometimes the emotional side of that gets lost because of the sheer scale of the emergency and the intense pressure to take action to adapt and mitigate. People get exhausted and burn out because the odds seem stacked against them. What I like about this project is that it’s about using the structure of self care planning and bringing people together in forums, in a book, training and podcasts to share their anxieties as well as their resilience, to help them move back into action.”
 
Audrey Baird, who is Peer Supporter for the project, added,
“The problem is bad news about global warming and biodiversity loss has been relentless for decades and it can often seem like ecosystem and societal collapse is inevitable and imminent. People who are emotionally or physically affected by the nature and climate emergencies understand our species is taking too much from Earth and our insatiable greed is fed by exploiting the powerless and the poor. Change must come and working out what we can each do to help builds personal resilience and self respect.”

Inspired by the spirit of Glasgow’s 2021 Climate Justice protest and with a £10k grant from The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland - Together for Our Planet programme, EAR Peer Support is funded until March 2023.

Eco-anxiety - young people

3/8/2022

 
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​Government inaction on climate change linked to psychological distress in young people. 

The l
argest scientific study of its kind finds climate anxiety affects the daily life and functioning of nearly half of children and young people surveyed globally.
Nearly half of global youth surveyed (45%) say climate anxiety and distress is affecting their daily lives and functioning - according to results from the largest scientific study into climate anxiety in children and young people, according to new research.

The inaugural study, based on surveys with 10,000 children and young people (16-25) across 10 countries, found 75% of young respondents believe ‘the future is frightening’ - jumping to 81% of youth surveyed in Portugal and 92% in the Philippines. It found, for the first time, that climate distress and anxiety is significantly related to perceived government inaction and associated feelings of betrayal. 58% of children and young people surveyed said governments were “betraying me and/or future generations,” while 64% said their governments are not doing enough to avoid a climate catastrophe.

The study found widespread psychological distress among children and young people globally and warns 'such high levels of distress, functional impact and feelings of betrayal will negatively affect the mental health of children and young people.' Experts warn that because continued government inaction on climate change is psychologically damaging, it potentially amounts to a violation of international human rights law.​

Extract from University of Bath Communications
Access to full study
Image credit: AdobeStock.



Eco-anxious? Join our free online workshops

2/8/2022

 
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Eco-Anxious? Join us for a series of free online workshops to learn and share resilience strategies.
Do you worry about Planet Earth, biodiversity loss and global warming?  Are you struggling to take action, or campaign, to mitigate the nature and climate emergency?

Most people who are gripped by fear, sadness, anger, confusion, powerlessness and other strong emotions are vulnerable to episodes of burnout or hopelessness. Strong emotions drive change, and Earth and society are undoubtedly made better by compassionate people doing what they can to act on these issues. But constructive progress can often seem out of reach. At times like these, self care, and connecting with resilient peers, is an effective way to re-empower yourself to continue striving for the just and enlightened society you aim to help bring about.

Meet others who share your concerns to discuss personal resilience and empowerment strategies to help. Simply sign up for one or more of the free group workshops we’ve scheduled between now and 30 March 2022.
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All workshops are at 7pm - 8.15pm on Zoom. You are very welcome to join us at all, or some, of the sessions listed below.  We only ask that you help us to reach out to others if you know anyone who could benefit.

PLEASE BOOK YOUR PLACE VIA OUR EVENTBRITE LINK >>

Some feedback from our 2022 workshops:
“Great to connect with some people who love Earth”
 “The planning tool was a useful prompt, even just as a guide to help discussions with other people, or make connections to things I am already doing.”
 “The self care planning tool feels like a great way to spark a conversation or share with someone who is struggling.”
 “I enjoyed the breakout room as we had a bit longer to talk together. I would be interested in an ongoing group if that becomes possible. I enjoyed reading the readings. The self care planning tool helped me …..”
 “Very useful to be exploring this, I feel a bit lighter already.”
 “Meaningful connections made through discussing our emotions through the use of creative writings.”

More about Eco Anxious Peer Support

In the meantime, please find out more about Eco Anxious Resilient Peer Support. Read our first 'daily readings' and check out a self care planning tool which are core parts of the project.
Find out more by emailing audrey@surefoot-effect.com
 
Inspired by the spirit of Glasgow’s 2021 Climate Justice protest and with a £10k grant from The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland - Together for Our Planet programme, EAR Peer Support is funded until March 2023.
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