Nature-based ways to resource yourself and your practice

The impact on GP’s of prolonged overload, and the stress of facing ever-rising demands with shrinking resources, needs creative responses. This Woodland Resilience Immersion offers a different way to gain new insights and skills, to raise your resilience and nourish your wellbeing.

In 2018, Westminster Centre for Resilience recognised that a more immersive, catalytic process than the typical half or one-day session in an urban training room was what many health professionals needed. These programmes have been jointly developed by Hazel Hill Trust and Westminster Centre for Resilience. Following two successful pilot programmes with hospital doctors, they are offering a pilot group tailored to GP’s.

Hazel Hill Wood have several years’ experience of delivering nature-based resilience programmes for a range of front-line services. These Immersions offer a unique combination of both teams’ expertise. The format for this programme is a one-night, 28-hour residential, including the following elements:

• Conservation work and physical activities together to de-stress, relax into the woods and shift gear.
• An evening campfire circle for sharing, mutual support and insights on work stresses
• Learning about resilience from the woodland ecosystem, and practical tools for our own wellbeing and our teams.
• Practicing simple techniques based on applied neurobiology, mindfulness and traditional sources which can be used in everyday work.
• Processes and time to consider better approaches for tackling work challenges and systemic pressures.

While the idea of Nature immersion for medics may seem novel, there is good research evidence for it. For example, the book Your Brain on Nature, written by two doctors at Harvard Medical School, sets out extensive research support for the specific benefits of Nature contact in offsetting high levels of stress, Directed Attention Fatigue, information overload, and excessive ‘screen time’.  The pilot programmes at Hazel Hill – formally evaluated by Westminster Centre for Resilience – showed statistically significant impacts. A summary is available.

FACILITATORS

Immersionshave at least two facilitators, one a medical professional, one from Hazel Hill, both with extensive experience of resilience programmes for the health sector.

The hosting team

David Peters worked as a GP, and since, in a range of professional and research roles in the NHS.  He co-founded and directed the Westminster Centre for Resilience (WCR), where he is now Emeritus Professor.

Marcos Frangos is General Manager of Hazel Hill Wood, director of Wellspring Change doing systemic personal and organisational resilience work and development. He has led resilience programmes for health professionals at Hazel Hill and managed a wellbeing strategy in a large local authority

Julie Chinn was a GP for many years who now works in a non-clinical role supporting fellow professionals. She is a Case Manager for the Wessex Deanery Professional support unit, helps trainees across the specialties, teaches on the vocational training scheme, and appraises fellow GPs as well as working as a coach and mentor.

Jane Sanders is a psychotherapist and group leader with a special interest in ecopsychology and deep ecology. She has been leading resilience and wellbeing groups at Hazel Hill Wood for several years’

ABOUT HAZEL HILL WOOD

Hazel Hill is a magical 70-acre wood, near Salisbury. It has simple, beautifully crafted off-grid wooden buildings with lovely indoor and outdoor group spaces, basic single or twin bedrooms (or camping), hot showers, civilised compost loos, plus a sauna. See more at www.hazelhill.org.uk. The wood is run by an educational charity to promote wellbeing, resilience and sustainability through programmes at the wood for a wide variety of client groups. The food is outstanding!

COST AND BOOKING

The total cost is £130per person, including facilitation, accommodation, and food.  Single room supplement £20.Group limited to ten participants: book soon to be sure of a place.

TO BOOK email Nicky Green for a booking form:
ngreen.bookkeeping@gmail.com or 07854 089 239

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT David Peters by email at petersd@westminster.ac.uk