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Helping families emerge positively from Lockdown: Frosts and Wild for Life launch new Family Wellbeing Programme
Outdoor learning and wellbeing organisation, Wild for Life, today has launched The Family Wellbeing Programme, an exciting and timely new initiative sponsored by Frosts, the established, family-run garden centre group, and supported by The Greensand Country Landscape Partnership, a Heritage Lottery funded programme increasing accessibility to local natural landscapes.
Wild for Life will deliver three sets of three 1hr long webinars for parents, grandparents and primary carers of children aged 4-12 years old in July, which will focus on how to manage the wellbeing of their children, with a particular focus on the detrimental effects of lockdown. The FREE webinars will run as a series and they will demonstrate how outdoor environments and activities can be a catalyst for better mental and physical wellbeing.
Throughout lockdown, many people have discovered solace in the great outdoors. Children who have access to gardens and outdoor space have been running free and learning outdoors, more than ever before. As schools begin to welcome back pupils, outdoor learning will become the norm rather than an occasional pastime, to aid social distancing, help create healthy working environments and allow children a different way to transition back into school. Schools, families and communities will have to deal with heightened levels of anxiety, confusion and concern, unusual routines and practices. The hope is that greater access to nature and outdoor spaces will help to alleviate these challenges.
The Wild for Life team, based in the heart of Greensand country just outside Milton Keynes, has been working with professionals, families and young people across the education, care and mental health sectors for over 14 years. The team are huge advocates for spending more time learning, playing, working and relaxing outside to boost immune systems, to help to maintain a digital balance, to build resilience, confidence, mental and physical agility, and to cope with challenging periods in our lives.
Rachael Frossell, Founder of Wild for Life, explains: “Lockdown has had a huge impact on wellbeing: for some it has been a positive experience, but for others it has been a huge juggling act, a strain on finances and relationships and period of uncertainty, stress and frustration. Children will be greatly unsettled by this period as they have had their regular routines turned upside down and, often, they struggle to process and express their thoughts and emotions.”
She continues, “Together, with the support of our sponsors and partners, Frosts Group and Greensand Country, we hope our free webinars will equip parents and carers with the tools they need to assess and improve the wellbeing of their families in order to move forward out of lockdown positively.”
Throughout lockdown, Frosts, the programme’s main sponsor, has witnessed how people have taken to their gardens and outdoor spaces to escape the pressures of lockdown and to improve wellbeing.
Danielle Brown, Head of Marketing for Frosts, said: “At Frosts, our customers’ wellbeing has always been at the forefront of our minds and over recent years we have been doing our best to help our customers understand the benefits that gardening can bring. From giving a sense of responsibility and helping connect with nature, to providing some gentle exercise, there are a huge number of ways that our wonderful variety of plants can enhance wellbeing and we think our partnership with Wild For Life will only help solidify this message.”
Greensand Country, a partnership consisting of local environmental, conversation and heritage organisations including RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, The Greensand Trust and more, believe that lockdown has created an appetite for families to get outside and spend quality time together exploring and discovering their local, natural landscapes. They hope the webinars will enable families to get more out of their time together, on a deeper and more restorative level.
The webinar series will take place on Monday, 6 July, Thursday, 9th July and Monday, 13th July. There will be three opportunities to catch each webinar at 10am, 1.30pm and 7.30pm. For more information about the webinars’ content and to book a place, visit the Eventbrite booking page: w4lfamilywellbeing.eventbrite.co.uk