One in ten children and young people aged 5 to 16 has a clinically diagnosed mental health disorder and around one in seven has less severe problems. To help improve their quality of life and experience in schools we are crowdfunding to give these children regular access to outdoor learning and the therapeutic multi-sensory environment nature provides. This would facilitate increased engagement with learning for children and adolescents otherwise disengaged from the current over stretched education system.

Research tells us that playing and learning outdoors gives children: better health and wellbeing, better gross and fine motor skill development, improved self-image and self esteem, social competence, enhanced brain development, reduced stress and stress-related illnesses such as depression and anxiety, the opportunity to fully use their imagination and creativity, strengthened skeletal and muscle structures, improved concentration and a reduction in the symptoms of ADHD and negative behaviour as well as environmental awareness. Humans have an inborn need to connect with nature and our separation from nature has been relatively recent. Growing disconnection with our natural environment is exacerbating the escalating rates of mental illness in both children and adults.

Our plan to make this happen is to provide an experienced, highly qualified outdoor instructor to work with SENCOs in Cambridge schools to identify groups of children who would benefit from regular periods of time utilising high quality parks, woodlands, gardens and nature reserves in the local area. In our work with home educated children we have already experienced some amazingly positive changes to the wellbeing of many young individuals through our wild approach to learning and living.

The donations will go directly towards providing an outdoor instructor to lead these experiences with children and pass their knowledge and skills in this area on to accompanying staff, which we will do at no cost to schools already experiencing funding cuts. It will also help provide transport to and from schools to various different outdoor locations where they are not in the close vicinity and help resource activities to supplement what nature provides.

If you have read this far thank you for your time! A small donation from as many people as possible would make a real difference to the wellbeing of some of our local children whose suffering often goes unnoticed.