DD Charity Update - January 2022

For the first DD Charity blog of 2022, we're pleased to introduce two more charities that we've working with this month.

Read on below to find out more about the work of Wilderness Foundation, who work to transform vulnerable lives with the power of the outdoors, and Cup O T; a friendly, mobile non-profit mental health and wellness service.

Wilderness Foundation UK

We are happy to have donated sets of hammocks and tarps to help assist the work of the Wilderness Foundation. Based in the United Kingdom, the Wilderness Foundation offers nature based outreach programs, nature therapy camps and trails. These programs allow people of all ages and those with additional needs to explore and preserve unspoiled wild spaces not only in the UK but in South Africa and Europe as well.

Clare Martin explains more abut the ethos and methods of the Wilderness Foundation:

“Through the Wilderness Foundation UK's education and therapy programmes we help young people and adults reconnect to society and themselves through outdoor facilitation adventures, therapy and mentoring. Our programmes highlight the positive impact of nature on personal and social wellbeing. Developing stewardship for nature and wild places is imbued through the teaching of Leave No Trace Ethics alongside volunteering.

Our mission is to preserve wild places and change lives through outreach programmes that educate, inspire and reconnect people facing a number of challenges in their lives. We create opportunities for those wishing to learn more about their relationship with the natural world and what they can do to protect it. The content of our Wilderness programmes aims to equip and enable people to acquire skills from within themselves to navigate their futures safely and successfully. We are working to keep people healthy and our planet wild!

Our Wilderness Environmental programmes include mitigation around nature, rewilding and sustainability with inspiring youth action projects, making positive changes for the environment and nature. Our Wilderness Education programmes include alternative education provision and curriculum-based workshops for Primary, Secondary and SEN schools as well as our Leadership Academy involving team building and wilderness expeditions. Our Wilderness Therapy programmes support vulnerable young people and adults in personal growth, improved mental wellbeing and resilience, working with nature as a therapeutic tool to gain perspective and understanding. Anyone can be referred to us for support and the referral form is available from our website: www.wildernessfoundation.org.uk”.

We wish the Wilderness Foundation the very best with their work and we will catch up with Clare and co in the near future to see how they get on with their new DD gear!

If you’d like to find out even more about the Wilderness Foundation, you can find them on Facebook and Instagram.

Cup-O-T

We are also delighted to have donated hammocks and tarps to support rural Norfolk based non-profit mental wellness provider, Cup-O-T. Specifically, this equipment will be used within the “Level Up Outdoors” bushcraft group therapy programme, which assists the mental and personal development of young people aged 7 – 19.

Working to provide mobile mental health support for young people and adults with the help of their therapy van and outdoors workshops, Cup-O-T strives to be as accessible as possible for those who would otherwise not receive mental health support. They offer not only outdoor therapy for young people in need, but also run occupational therapy workshops, ecotherapy reset courses for social care staff who have worked tirelessly throughout the covid-19 pandemic, as well as EMDR therapy and family support sessions.

Catherine Grey, Founder, CEO and therapist with Cup-O-T goes into more detail below;

“I am an occupational therapist who loves being in nature - foraging, wild swimming, walking, bushcraft and camping. Over the years I have been working in mental health NHS services, I have pined for working outdoors and getting out of tiny clinic rooms. Occupational Therapy is about doing, building skills, abilities and our sense of self. When I set up Cup-O-T I knew being outside was the right direction to go, both from my own experience but also from the people I work with.

Nature Occupational Therapy sessions include activities such as bushcraft, from shelter building and fire lighting, to woodland management, campfire cooking, nature crafts and so much more. Each activity is purposefully planned to meet a therapy goal. We also use the outdoor setting to provide trauma therapy such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) Therapy.

The dedicated woodland space in Wymondham, Norfolk offers the young people an environment that they can shape, have influence on and be part of, rather than a clinic room they just visit for an hour. It is less intimidating for young people and adults. The woodland is very basic at the moment - the tarps and hammocks donated by DD Hammocks have been incredible. They have given us shelter for sessions and the hammocks are perfect for the young people to have time out and regulate their emotions when they need it."

"Doing bushcraft to manage emotions is a very good idea, as speaking from personal experience, connecting with nature in some way can really help! Sometimes emotions are like nature and the weather, and are often as changeable, and learning to survive these natural things is a good way of processing emotions." - Oliver, aged 14

We hope that Cup-O-T and their patrons will enjoy their new DD gear, and we wish Catherine and Cup-O-T every success with their work going forward!

If you'd like to find out more about Cup-O-T and the services they provide, you can find out more on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter. You can also support their fundraising projects with their crowdfunder.

Do you work with, or know of a charity or cause that focuses on the outdoors and helping those less fortunate enjoy nature? If they would benefit from some free hammocks and tarps, plus a feature on the DD Charity Blog to showcase their work, we would love to hear from you!

Help us do even more this year, and get involved by getting in touch with us via our DD Charity contact form.