Dear Friends, supporters and colleagues,

I am just in from a walk in our wonderful woods surrounding us in our village in Essex.

I felt uplifted and grateful not just for sun coming out but by the season itself. With the first warmth of spring stretching gently into early summer, there’s a quiet but unmistakable shift in the air. Buds loosen into leaves, mornings arrive a little earlier, and the world seems to inhale—deeply, optimistically—before stepping forward again.

It’s a season that never rushes yet always moves. And in that, perhaps, it offers us something of a guide.

At the Wilderness Foundation, this time of year feels especially meaningful. It mirrors our own rhythm: reflecting on where we’ve come from, learning from the paths we’ve taken, and stepping into what lies ahead with renewed purpose. This year, that feeling is magnified as we celebrate our 50th anniversary—a milestone that invites both gratitude and boldness in equal measure.

Fifty years. Half a century of people, places, and purpose woven together through a shared belief in the power of wild spaces to transform lives. I sit at my desk with a photograph of our Founder Dr Ian Player above me, and continue to admire all he stood for, fought for, encouraged, nudged and inspired thousands of people to find their connection to the wilderness. Through that connection for well over 60 000 people, we can share a conviction to care for these wild, vanishing places that hold ecological heritage for all. Ian died in 2014, but he remains as a guide for me and many others, not letting us rest as important work is to be done.

To mark this, we are hosting 50 events across the year—moments to gather, to listen, to learn, and to celebrate. Each one is a thread in a much larger tapestry, connecting communities, landscapes, and stories. And in October, we will come together for our Wilderness Conference, in collaboration with Anglia Ruskin University—an opportunity to explore ideas, challenge thinking, and strengthen our collective commitment to nature and wellbeing.

This will be added to the already busy work of our team who work around the clock in offering outdoor therapy, Wild Schools, environmental education and caring for our 92 acres of woodland.  We reached over 8000 people last year once again, and finished the year financially with turnover we had hoped for, even though fundraising continues to get tougher each year.

This spirit of renewal is not only reflected in the natural world around us, but also within the Foundation itself. After 28 years of working alongside this remarkable organisation, a group of Trustees and myself, have been spending time—carefully and thoughtfully—seeking out the right person to take on the role of CEO and lead the next chapter of our journey. It has been an important and considered process, grounded in everything we have learned over the years and everything we hope to become.

I’m pleased to share that this process is nearing its conclusion, and we look forward to making an announcement soon. Just as the seasons turn, bringing new growth from deep roots, so too will this transition mark a new beginning for the Wilderness Foundation—one built on continuity, care, and fresh perspective.

But anniversaries are about looking back. They are about asking: what now?

We step into this year with hope, but also with clear eyes. The world feels complex, at times fragile. The unfolding crisis in the Middle East weighs heavily, reminding us the edge of which we balance of greater conflict, the fall out, and of the devasting impact on people and planet. It would be easy to feel overwhelmed by the scale of it all.

Yet if nature teaches us anything, it is this: focus on what you can nurture. Protect what is within your reach. Grow where you are rooted.

Our work has always been grounded in that principle. Supporting those who need it most and addressing hardship and inequality where it falls. Creating space for healing and connection. Protecting wild places—not as a luxury, but as something essential. Because, quite simply, our lives depend on it.

And so we move forward with intention. A year that may be challenging locally and globally, yes—but also full of possibility and new vision. A year to do what we do well, and to do it with care, courage, and collaboration.

We would not be here without you—our friends, partners, and supporters. Your engagement, your belief, your willingness to stand alongside us has shaped every step of this journey. Thank you for being part of this story. We have celebrated volunteers including our Trustees who give so much time freely to help us make that difference.

As we look to the next fifty years, we invite you to consider your place within this legacy. Perhaps there is something special you’d like to do to mark this anniversary—a conversation to start, an event to host, a gift to give, or a new idea to explore. Please get in touch directly at jo@wildernessfoundation.org.uk . We would love to hear from you.

For now, though, let’s pause—just for a moment—and step outside and appreciate this poem of an unknown author that really speaks to us.

A Spring Turning

Soft light spills through waking leaves,
each branch remembering how to begin again.
The earth loosens its winter grip,
breathing green into every quiet corner.

A blackbird stitches morning into song,
threads of sound rising through cool air,
while somewhere beneath our feet
roots are writing their patient stories.

Nothing hurries.
Nothing forces its way forward.

And yet—
everything grows.

Petal by petal,
day by day,
the world leans gently toward the sun,
as if it has always known
this moment would come.

As we return from that pause, we are reminded that this relationship between people and nature is not new—it is something deeply rooted in our shared human story. As William Wordsworth once wrote:

“And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.”

It is a simple image, yet it captures something profound: that connection to nature is not just something we observe, but something we feel—something that lifts us, steadies us, and brings us back to ourselves.

May this season bring you that same quiet confidence—the sense that, no matter the challenges, there is always a way forward. Together with the Wilderness Foundation, let’s continue to protect, to connect, and to care for the wild spaces that sustain us all.

Here’s to the next chapter.

Kindest regards

Jo

Dear Friends,

This is a special time of year to sit back and reflect on the past 12 months and to look forward to the New Year with all its promise.

If we didn’t have beginnings and endings such as the calendar month, things would just plod along with the danger of becoming stale without the prospect of renewal.

We can therefore be grateful to the many civilisations such as the Sumerians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Chinese, Greeks and others who developed calendars based on natural cycles such as complex luni-solar systems that aligned seasons and celestial events to create this counting of months.

For the team at the Foundation this break is well deserved. It has been a hectic year – with very hard work hidden behind the outputs and achievements of record numbers of beneficiaries of both education and therapy services, the developing nature of our wonderful 92-acre Mann Wood, and the changes we see in both nature and people that surround us.

We have helped many people in crisis with thousands of hours of therapy outdoors, introduced new people to talks on nature and Bird Ringing with the BTO, delivered a myriad of environmental school visits and special needs programmes, supported those that have struggled to attend school or manage family stress through our Out There Academy, graduated women and children survivors of domestic abuse through our Blossom Programme, and celebrated the changes of our TurnAround young people who gave speeches at their graduation about the changes they have made in their time with us over 9 months – leaving no dry eye in the room.

The break enables us as an organisation to reflect on 2025, what we have done well and what we need to improve on, and what we need to be ready for in 2026. The hard work is going to be securing funding as we believe that the economic climate, reorganisation of local government, and other pressures will make this even harder than before.

However, we are excited that next year is our WF 50th anniversary and we want to really use this moment to showcase our work, our history and future potential.

We are planning a wilderness symposium in the Autumn in Essex to bring together speakers and delegates interested in the world of wilderness and wild land protection, the coming together of human and nature wellbeing, and the overwhelmingly positive impact of nature on mental health. We will highlight the value of how we are committed to protect ourselves and each other, alongside all that is wild and natural.

The symposium will form a part of the Chelmsford Science Week at Anglia Ruskin University which offers a way of growing awareness even further.

We aim to invite our local, national and international friends and key speakers to help us think about these critical issues in wide context. We have so much to learn from each other – especially in taking up a more systemic and holistic view of how we care for one earth and each other – together.

Locally we will be running 50 events, big and small, that everyone can engage in such as locally based forest walks, yoga in the woods, butterfly walks (and many others); and also planning a 50 of something fundraising national campaign that will include 50 miles of running, walking, cycling, swimming – but also baking for example 50 loaves of bread – over the year. etc.

Please do share any other ideas with us and keep an eye out for our notifications of how you can be involved.

We are continuing our search for a new CEO and in the meantime, I continue to stay in post – always happily as I would like us to find the right pair of hands to pass the baton on to. The role is on our website and in our social channels and please do forward to others who you think may be suitable. The closing date for this round will be 1 February. Please find the advert here – https://oxfordhr.com/jobs/wf-chief-executive-officer/

The search has certainly highlighted how much we really do – and how the threads of education, conservation and mental health are woven together in a unique style to give us the depth and effect we have.

I plan at this stage (subject to the CEO) to stay on running the wilderness/outdoor therapy service alongside Angely, Jodie, Elaine and our ever-growing suite of associate therapists, and therapeutic outdoor facilitators. That fills me with huge optimism as I will hopefully have more time to deliver the services I love, continue supervision and teaching, and help grow this work and support the team better.

Whilst there is much to say on the Foundation’s activity – there must be room to talk about the state of wild nature and our role in doing the best we can to protect it. The world, whatever political persuasion one comes from, is at risk as economies stretch too far and decline, and human populations expand, whilst space for nature contracts. I long for the time when nature is seen as the most important resource and everything else has to align with that, rather than the other way around.

Without healthy, functioning, biodiverse spaces, mitigations for climate change and rich ecosystems we as humans have no home to live in. Somehow, we need to keep sharing the message through our social media outreach and our large education activity – but much modern political planning and rhetoric ignores this – to all our peril.

On a positive note, I will end with this lovely meditation of Satish Kumar of the Schumacher College, to dwell on during this time of reflection (after the Christmas rush) that talks of belonging and connection to earth, each other and life itself.

The whole Cosmos is our country
The whole planet Earth is our home
The whole humanity is our family
Nature is our nationality
Love is our religion
We’re rooted in our community and the
Place to which we belong.

(Thanks to Chiara and Hugh – systemic therapists- for sharing this)

As we look backwards and forwards – perhaps these words can stay with us as a way of being, as we enter and live through the new year of 2026.

In the Foundation, we will be supporting this message over the years to come as we think about nature and ourselves as a collective, and celebrate the beauty, awe and wonder that wild nature provides, and give gratitude for giving us a home.

Wishing you all the best spiritual break, Christmas, or other times for family and reflection in your religions.

Thank you for your continued support – we cannot do it without you all as founders, supporters, volunteers, trustees, staff – and of course friends.

Jo and the wilderness team.

Dear Friends,

Seasons come and go, and we live within the passages of time. It has always been thus, and now autumn is upon us. I love the cooling of air in the late afternoon and evening – that chill on my cheeks, a change in the light, and the sense of quietness and slowness that hangs in the air. Nature seems calmer, less busy after the vibrancy of spring and summer.

This time of year offers a chance to reflect and prepare for winter, and time to make the most of the year that is left. It is also a time of great beauty, when Nature throws the magic of her vibrant colours into the wind for us all to appreciate in awe and wonder. Who cannot love the child within coming out as we crunch through fallen leaves?

The Foundation has been very busy through the year so far. Wonderful outcomes shine through on the faces of people who have been through our care or educational programmes – over 6,000 when we last counted – but, as with all life, there have been tough times too. We all face an economically tight year and a whirling of political uncertainty. I find, in addition to that, my sense of anxiety around attitudes towards the environment can quickly slide away to meet the immediate needs of human populations. Nature can appear to be something that can be moved around to suit our needs – often forgetting the longevity of ecosystems and biodiverse spaces that, like families, have taken time to melt together and become functioning wholes. Our work has never been more important, and the urgency of our messages about the importance of healthy nature and respect for the Earth is critical.

As always, there is also great work going on for Nature, and many voices are shouting out for her protection and value to all our continued existence.

I have just returned from the Rewilding Academy gathering in the Netherlands – a weekend of complete inspiration, learning, and energetic uplift. Wolves, owls, regenerative agriculture, forest farming, looking after wildlife as a vet in war-torn Iraq – just some of the magical programmes being run by brave, innovative people. And community work is there too – bringing people with us, sharing in the bounty of a healthy Earth, and giving people a sense of agency and belonging in India, Africa, and here in the UK.

Our wonderful patron, Sir Humphry Wakefield – an extraordinary man with a jaw-droppingly fascinating life narrative – melted the hearts and minds of the toughest wilderness warriors. He was guest of honour, opening the proceedings (after being piped in by bagpipes – to the delight of many and surprise of some!) deep in the Netherlands countryside. He spoke of wilderness, adventure, and spirit – elements that have formed our work and continue to drive us forward.

Other speakers were inspiring, passionate, and reflective, and there was a lot of heart – and muddied hands from ‘action’ rather than words – mixed with science that gave the backbone to the thinking and pioneering within a movement that wishes for the Earth to be maintained and restored.

The Global Rewilding Alliance – an affiliated organisation – had much to share on larger work in Africa: of herbivores returning the functionality of landscapes, and projects in Botswana and further afield in which we are a part, or were involved in driving thinking, leading and driving action… in Europe, Africa, and elsewhere.

And then there was the local experience. On the Saturday night, we watched a film called Kees’ Backyard – a wild space in the heart of the Netherlands – a Crown Estate – where people walk and jog and take their dogs, but alongside them are wolves, wild boar, red and roe deer, foxes, badgers, and other wildlife, big and small.

This space is his place for calming and connecting… a wild space where he can sit motionless with his back against a tree. Where wildlife comes to know him, his smell, and tolerates his presence. He has filmed over the years, and then a friend and colleague collated hours of his magical and exceptional footage to make the film. It was one of those visual feasts that one wants to watch again and again. Through the visual feast of his connection to the wild, we could find ours – vicariously but emotionally.

We need the heart work and the emotion as much as the science that maps what factually is going on in the world – where chronic habitat loss and climate change are realities – but also take notice of what gives hope and drives positive action.

We need to talk and share more with each other about these things that matter, and share ideas of what works and what has not. We need to stay hopeful and work hard at living well – not just for ourselves, but for all life.

Our education team and therapists live that work, and everyone who comes into contact with us has some of that love for nature, care for the environment, and for each other rub off on them. These role models – ordinary humans that care – are mechanisms for change. The children we engage will hopefully enact their early learning later on in their lives, perhaps with their own families, and like the seasons, so it goes.

In our newsletter, you can read about what we are trying to do with your help, and our impact. We thank you all as donors and friends, volunteers and staff.

If you can see a way to help wilderness, wildlife and people – through a fundraiser, a donation, or introduction to a friend or company – it will make a huge difference. Simply sharing our social posts gets our reach further and wider.

Coming back to autumn, and reflecting on what to shake off from the year, I share with you that December will most likely be my last blog. I am stepping down to hand over to new blood and energy to lead the Foundation to new paths, for new leaves to form. I am keen to write, to teach and help others in their striving to do the best for nature and people, and will continue my wilderness therapy research and work.

We will keep you updated on the developments.

In the meanwhile – stay wild – keep talking and doing.

Best,

Jo

Dear Friends,

Welcome to our Summer Newsletter.

A small black ball of fluff – so tiny that it was hard to see effectively – was making its way across one of the roads I take home at the end of the day. Traffic was coming from both sides, and I just wonder if this little shrew finally made it. Or, with my doom hat on, it is now a flat bit of fluff on the road having met its fate under wheels of human juggernauts.

Last summer on the same stretch of road I found a duck with all her ducklings in a large pothole on the fringe of the tarmac swimming around a puddle of water. I could not stop, and any attempt may have put them in more peril. Both left me as I drove on, with my head full of thoughts and my heart saddened at the precipice of life for wild creatures as our roads expand, get busier, there are more houses and more people – and they are pushed to the fringes of existence. I don’t forget them – and the pictures in my mind of them remains vivid, and feelings linger of a sadness for their struggle to survive when I remember them.

Our work at the Foundation heightens our awareness of the communality of life on earth and our immediate environment and how we humans are just a part of a beautiful, sophisticated and magical set of inter- relationships and webs of life. These creatures are part of us, and us a part of them. It is this message that we take out into the field in all our capacities of education, therapy and conservation.

It is hopefully growing awareness of the need for us to be in balance with nature, to ensure we can advocate for our fellow wilder community, that we teach the values and benefits of what wildlife and nature offers us, and how we in turn can commit to helping them be more respected, understood and safe. It is said, that without bees the earth would slowly collapse…each element playing its role in a system that can be immensely robust and in equal measures, immensely fragile.

I hope that Robinson Jeffers in his poem ‘The Green World’ is right that Nature will be more patient than us. He writes:

‘The green world is forgotten, and the earth is foul
Under the tread of men—
But there is a world of green beneath our feet,
And it will wait for us to understand.’

We have been revisiting our history and origins as an organisation through the wonderful evening event held in June with Michael Charlton called “Leave Some for the Honey Badger” in London.

This origin story of our founders Dr Ian Player and Magqubu Ntombela in the early days of the Wilderness Leadership School in South Africa, up to today, brings to life wisdom of indigenous people who lived close to nature in a symbiotic relationship and how much of this we have lost today. This wisdom was in language, behaviours, daily spiritual practice, and a sense of interconnection and belonging. It is a way of viewing each element of nature as equally important in its offering to the other, and how wilderness journeys into the wild help us feel this, see it and believe it through direct experience.

As I write this piece, I am blessed to be preparing for a five-day canoeing journey in West Scotland, leaving in the morning. We are paddling one end to the other, and wild camping, along remote shores of Loch Awe – amongst 13th century Knights graves, and castle ruins of the mighty Campbells, with a backdrop of mountains, wind, water, rain and some sun. Close to the elements, close to each other, close to Gaia.

Nine young people will venture with us from the Haberdashers’ Company schools in South London. Some have never paddled, some never camped, some have never done anything like this at all. Some are more experienced.

What we hope is for them to drop the pressures of exams and busy city lives, to settle into a rhythm of a simple existence with no phones, no watches and to notice what nature throws our way to do our best with. We hope that they will notice the small things, the green world, the tiny shrews, the ducks in their real and wild element, the beauty, the silence, the lapping of waves and a sense of belonging.

We will do everything to move towards this space. We reflect, we use solo time, we laugh and play, we talk…and we paddle.

This journey takes us back to our early roots. Ian Player founded the Duzi Canoe Marathon in South Africa – still running today. Water was an element not to toy with, or to disrespect but elemental in its impact. We will appreciate it for this too as we push our paddles deep and pull hard together.

What he didn’t talk about then, in the 1960s, and is now hugely topical is the impact of nature on mental health. Today, what he knew instinctively, is fact and research that is undisputed on mental health improvement and nature immersion. It shifts mood, builds confidence, boosts self-worth, offers hopefulness, offers awe and wonder, makes us more creative and calm, and makes us feel happier. Water in some cases seems to expedite the benefits and is known as Blue Therapy.

During June we have had over 3000 children and young people pass through our therapeutic and educational programmes, and the team have two more months of busy delivery ahead of them.

They are all amazing and we have welcomed in a new member of staff, Catherine Walker, who will be supporting Education and our Mann Wood programme – we are delighted to have her on board, and she has been thrown into the deep end from day one.

We also have a new Administration and HR manager, Shelley Rudling – who is brilliant and an incredible team player, supporting everyone to be at their best. She replaces Angely Webb who will now focus on growing income and delivery for our therapy one to one and group services.

We have also run a wide range of therapy camps, home schooling, events such as Golf Days and Wellbeing Days, board meetings, visitor open days and then the relentless need to fundraise nonstop – and look after each other including the wider team of over 45 therapists, fifty volunteers and our brilliant freelancers.

This is all made possible by your support as friends, believers, followers and funders. We are so grateful to you all and our work grows more important day by day.

Our thinking is made possible and our beliefs elevated by the writing of Aldo Leopold in a Sand County Almanac representing some of the first writings on land ethics which I reread again recently:

“We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us.
When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.”

With our founders in mind, our young people and adult clients before us, and a busy world to escape from time to time for sanity, it is important to keep this writing as a reminder of who we are and where we fit in.

I hope the shrew made it. I am too nervous to look hard at the tarmac in case it did not. But at least it tried.

Happy summer to all our friends,

Jo and the team.

Dear Friends,

It’s that time.. Spring is in the air!

Welcome to our Spring Newsletter, in which we celebrate the seasons changing from winter to spring. A time when we can look back at the darker, colder, winter and look forward with hopefulness, optimism and the scent of new beginnings as the sunshine lengthens the days. This seasonal adjustment has been ever such, and links us to the reassurance of the cycle of life – a most primitive experience that is celebrated as significant across the world’s cultures.

At the Foundation we have been busy throughout the winter and early months of this year. Thinking back about 8 years, we would have quieter months between October and March -traditionally a good time to rest and take stock of things – but we worried endlessly that we would not make it financially through these months as engagement with the schools and programmes seemed to hibernate and no income was coming in.

It was a lot of stretching resources and using only what we could to get through.

Now, in 2025, these hunkering down, and restoring months are as busy as the summer, because we have found the confidence and ability to engage and inspire people to work outside through rain and shine, cold and dry, and mud! And we continue to get great results. We teach a million hidden life lessons too, such as pushing through discomfort, the joy of the warmth of fire, camaraderie and that we are not made of sugar and don’t melt in the rain.

During the last year we engaged well over seven and a half thousand people in our service, which we are so proud of.

As we invest our values in our work with clients and participants – we also extend our values of kindness and care to all who work at the Foundation as well. The very busy outputs we have had this past year takes a lot out of our small, passionate team and they need looking after. However, nothing compares to the joy of the work and the sense of change that we see in people who connect meaningfully with us. Seeing the wild energising and healing them fills us with a sense of purpose in return.

To support the team and continue the high levels of impact with large referral numbers, we have also brought on new admin staff, new therapists to boost our wild therapy group programmes and offer more one to one support, as well as other freelancers to support the education delivery for schools and special educational needs and disability groups that thrive outside on weekly rotations.

Our environmental work continues to be in demand – and relevant – as the world reverberates with global conflicting pressures for nature and wilderness versus pressure on land for economic growth (including a ferocious house building agenda) reducing space for nature and wildlife. We also face the hunger for resources over protection and devaluation of efforts to mitigate climate change, amongst many other challenges.

All of these make our work very poignant as we care for people, wildlife and wild places in a balanced way.

However the national and geo political world plays out around us, we have settled into the joy of owning 92 acres of wildness and semi ancient wood at Mann Wood. We are taking our time to explore each glade, learn its trees and quirks, butterfly haunts, wildlife, birds and flowers either individually or with guided groups or experts in their field. We currently run four therapy groups a week in the woods, including a home schooled forest school, which fills it with pleasure, discovery, connection and healing.

Even though we own Mann Wood, the woods, much like most land that is unpopulated is at risk in time as population grows, land becomes a scarce resource and policy changes. Here in East Anglia the new major power line plan brushes past our boundary.

For us, this magnificent place presents a space of green calm and healing for humans in distress, and those just wanting to get away from the noise, and is of course a safe space for wildlife and children.

The woods acts as a green lung to partly offset, in a tiny way, the heavy change of land, housing and green belt loss predicted in the country. Whilst we recognise the genuine housing need for many families, we are at a crisis point to also keep landscapes wild, allow space for nature to exist not just on urban fringes but in wider and more protected habitats, and for our sanity be able to find true nature as near to us humans as possible. We must retain our relationships to wilder nature, learn how to care for it, and grow a wilderness spirit.

We need to remember the words of Chief Seattle :

“If all the beasts were gone, man would die from a great loneliness of spirit. For whatever happens to the beasts, soon happens to man. All things are connected.”

With winter ending with the pressures of potential war, uncertainty about impacts of some pretty scary political decision making and how it will affect land, nature, and people – I am hopeful, wishful and optimistic that enough goodness will prevail for all life, and that the small buds that are breaking through on branches will bring goodness and fresh life and wonder. I am similarly hope that these wonders happening and changing cycles will be bright and positive for all of us and all of nature that holds them safe.

Wishing you blossoms and the wonder of spring birdsong.

Jo

Ps. As mentioned we have some great new staff join the team and many will see the contributions of people like David Wilkinson who writes our social media posts and general outreach. We want to share with you both news from other charities and science around wilderness, education and outdoor therapy, and what we are all up to.

None of this is worthwhile if we are missing the communications you need, so please do engage with us and let us know what you may want more of, or how you feel we are already doing. You can contact us through our social media or email david@wildernessfoundation.org.uk and directly to me on jo@wildernessfoundation.org.uk.

We would love to hear from you.

Wilderness Foundation UK’s Mental Health Programme for Young People Recognised with High Sheriff’s Shield 

The Wilderness Foundation in Chatham Green has been honoured with the prestigious High Sheriff’s Shield at the annual Essex High Sheriff’s Awards.  

This recognition is part of a broader award of funding where £162,000 was awarded to 30 charities across the county, celebrating their exceptional contributions to the community. 

The Wilderness Foundation was selected from these charities to receive the High Sheriff’s Shield in recognition of its work helping to build emotional resilience of vulnerable young people through outdoor based experiences and connections with nature. 

£5,000 was also awarded to their TurnAround Programme, a transformative 9-month mental health support initiative aimed at young people aged 15-21. This programme works within nature and uses wilderness therapy, mentoring and a series of personal development workshops to provide vulnerable young people with the tools and support needed to navigate personal challenges, build resilience, and overcome barriers that may be impacting their lives. Ultimately TurnAround aims to help young people build sustainable and positive futures.  

CEO of the Wilderness Foundation, Jo Roberts, was joined by three graduates  who have benefited from the programme to attend the ceremony and accept the award. They were hugely excited by the event as well and enjoyed talking to people at the event about their experiences of the programme and the Foundation. 

In addition to the Shield, the Foundation also received a £5,000 funding grant to continue the programme in the coming year, ensuring that even more young people can access this vital support and get the most from it. 

The Turnaround Programme, running since 2007,  has already had a profound impact on many young lives, offering them a safe space to grow and thrive whilst also learning how to care for and love the natural world. With the continued backing of the High Sheriff’s Shield, the Wilderness Foundation is set to build on its success and offer hope to more young people facing difficult circumstances. 

Jo Roberts, CEO of Wilderness Foundation UK said: “We are so grateful to the High Sheriffs Fund for supporting TurnAround this year. This funding means we can keep helping vulnerable young people who are struggling with life’s challenges, giving them the confidence and skills to take control of their futures. Through mentoring, wilderness therapy, and outdoor skills, we give them the confidence and support to turn their lives around. Every bit of funding helps us reach more young people, giving them a second chance and a brighter future. Thank you for believing in our work and the amazing young people we support.” 

Dear Friends,

Thank you all so much  for your support over the year. There are so many of you who step up in a myriad of ways from sharing our social media posts to fundraising support, volunteering and just being alongside us. Thanks for taking the time to care for wilderness and wildness.

Writing now in the depths of winter has opened my thoughts about  ‘time’ and ‘cycles of life’. I have recently been reading a wonderful book called ‘Wintering’ by Katherine May, and the need for hunkering down for healing at times of stress. In  some research I was doing winter is regarded  ‘as the season for tending to the garden of the inner soul’. For Katherine May it was about befriending the emotions we don’t allow ourselves to feel, such as sadness, and that this is a skill to be learned. To learn to accept the all of us such as the year could not be the same, or as rich,  without the bleak, cold winter and what it brings.

Nature embraces all the seasons, and they all have purpose and bounty.  For us humans, there is value in us appreciating our own dark and lightness of emotions and relationships as being  interconnected parts of ourselves. Jung would see this as an essential part of integration and the making of us whole – something we seek to address as therapists for our clients. It is fragmentation that can bring the most distress and dis-ease.

Our busy-paced modern lives need  Nature’s reliability to help give us a structure, purpose and meaning through the year and beyond.  Although we have so much to look forward to in the months after winter, such as blossoms and new shoots in spring, orchards dripping fruit in summer, and foraging and  food prepping like squirrels in Autumn. They all bring us round again to be ready for winter’s scarcity and demands for survival.

The connection to natural cycles  is essential for our wellbeing as they offer hope, resilience, forward planning, joy, tolerance, challenge, adaptation, managing loss, and reward. These are some key elements needed in order to flourish.

So ‘seasons blessings’ in our card wishes to others is truly a lovely thing to say.

Using this reflective wintering time sitting at my desk with a fire burning, grey cloud above, and a damp chill in the air – I have been reflecting over the past year at the Foundation.

It has been a monumental year in terms of growth and achievements.  First, we finished the year financially positive overall – but still with some projects still wanting.  Secondly, although the team are tired, there is an overall warm sense of satisfaction knowing that through our joint efforts and skills we have genuinely shifted the lives of clients who engage with us in nature-based therapy in groups and one to one. Equally, we, recall and relish the excitement and wonder experienced by the many, many children who come through our education programmes. This is evidenced by feedback, research and by the speeches at graduations that leave not a dry eye in the room.

Adults, teens and children, many with complex and SEND needs, spend time with us where they may be different but are 100% equal, and can draw on the benefits of Nature’s non-judgement and its rich offerings to flourish, and to feel safe and heard in a world that can feel harsh. This applies hugely to our women and children who are survivors of domestic violence and whose sense of safety and need for connection is paramount. They can find a safe haven with us here.

However, the most dramatic organisational shift in 2024 was the acquisition of  Mann Wood in March – 92 acres of semi-natural ancient woodland in Essex -through support from the Biffa Award and Banister Trust. This is truly a pinnacle in our long history of 48 years. Now we have the opportunity to practically engage with a rich biodiverse and wild space to care for the existing wildlife, and start creating corridors to other woods, to build models for others to copy in woodland protection. We have our own space to call home for the Foundation where nature’s needs can be kept paramount.

In addition to the environmental agenda, the woods are enjoyed by the groups that almost daily arrive and thrive in the varied therapy programmes. Here people find sanctuary, beauty, and peace.

With caring for Mann Wood and thinking about how we do more to protect these rare spaces, I continue to have deep concern about space for nature as we enter the next few years. We are confronted by demands for exponential growth and housing, and open land, woodlands and  wild spaces are at risk unless they are designated or can evidence their worth.

The way many relate to the land appears to be purely  transactional, and at times objectifies nature in the sense that nature can be picked up moved to make way, or repositioned somewhere convenient, and Mother Nature does not sit equally at the table of human need.

We only have to read The Hidden Life of Trees by Peter Wohlleben or Wilding by Isabella Tree to understand how long even small ecosystems or patches of wildness took to form and how much life they carry. To remove and replace through developments will take years to achieve the same results and we shoot ourselves in the foot as evidence shows how rich biodiversity is one of the key mitigations for climate change.

I am keen that the Foundation continues to advocate for Nature to always be at the table, that space for Nature is not a luxury but a fundamental, and we continue to teach and grow our next generation of children and others to understand that ‘nature is me, and I am nature’.  This connectivity is good for our souls, our mental health and all other life on the planet.

We have much work to do in 2025 – as the world faces many challenges globally, politically, socially and environmentally.

2026 will be the 50^th year of the Wilderness Foundation being established in the UK and we will be planning in 2025 how we celebrate that milestone.  We look forward to journeying with you along the way.

Wishing you a very happy Christmas and positive wintering – with connection, meaning, time in nature, and of course-   lots of love and laughter.

Jo

CEO