Nature leading the way to a life of opportunity
Engaging in nature-based activities and spending time outdoors significantly benefits people with learning disabilities. Providing access to outdoor environments is a simple and proven method for enhancing their wellbeing.
According to Natural England’s paper, Included outside: Engaging people living with disabilities in nature (2022),
"Living with disabilities can often entail additional organisation and time on mundane chores, so there can be particular value in the feeling of freedom and sense of getting away from everyday demands that can come from being in natural environments."
This stresses the importance of providing individuals with learning disabilities access to more meaningful opportunities outdoors in nature, which enables people to live active and healthy lives.
The Challenges in Accessibility and Wellbeing for Individuals with Learning Disabilities
Unfortunately, for people with learning disabilities, there is a lack of funding, awareness and opportunity to participate in meaningful activities daily to learn genuine life and vocational skills – often leading to social isolation and loss of independence. Although a connection to nature has proven benefits for our health and wellbeing, access to nature is often not equitable for those with a learning disability.
Limited knowledge and education of nutrition and healthy lifestyles, often combined with a lack of access to fresh fruit and vegetables, has increased to unhealthy eating patterns and obesity for people with a learning disability.
How we are making nature accessible to adults with learning disabilities
Camphill Village Trust introduces a Green Care Opportunities programme, that incorporates outdoor opportunities and nature-based activities, to ensure the people we support have a life of opportunity. We are re-imagining social care; designing a new answer to a challenged sector through the power of nature.
Our Green Care programme offers ‘real’ work and skills-based opportunities for the people we support at both our urban and rural sites.
Our communities have working farms, gardens and other natural spaces, with indoor enterprises such as shops, cafes, bakeries, cheese-making, woodworking, butchery, printing press and even candle-making at some, that enable us to offer an array of meaningful opportunities as part of our Green Care offer.
Expression and creativity are also important for wellbeing and many of our sites have purpose-built buildings for music, crafts and drama to deliver a range of creative nature-based arts within our Green Care programme.
As we care passionately about health and nutrition, we also offer opportunities working with food, from field to fork, from harvesting to processing and baking, right through to customer facing opportunities such as serving food in our cafés and working in our shops.
How do people with learning disabilities benefit from nature-based activities?
The outcomes of connecting with nature in our Green Care programme...
Participants are treated as individuals at Camphill Village Trust, their voices are heard, and our person-centred approach brings a large variety of benefits. Typically, the most important outcomes experienced by our Green Care participants are:
- Increased self-advocacy, agency and independence (having more say in their lives, understanding choice, rights and responsibilities, progression and needing less support).
- Improved health and wellbeing (enhanced mental and physical health -feeling happier, being more active, eating a healthier diet and maintaining a healthy weight).
- Increased confidence and self-esteem (greater sense of self, more pride and confidence, increased self-worth).
- Increased inclusion and social connection (increased sense of belonging and community, greater social networks, enhanced social skills, working as a team and making new friendships).
- Increased sense of purpose, meaning and value (contributing to society, being part of something real and having a meaningful life).
- Increased life and/or vocational skills (increased life skills to enable higher independence, increased competencies, learning or work-based training.
