PAC

Please note that we are not taking new referrals for our 1-1 service at the moment but our phone lines are open. Please call to discuss other options for support.
Please note that we are not taking new referrals for our 1-1 service at the moment but our phone lines are open. Please call to discuss other options for support.

Counselling charity We Hear You (WHY) are now providing ‘WHYoutdoors’ nature connection courses for people who have been bereaved by cancer or a life-threatening condition. The new bereavement-focused course starts on Wednesday 14th September in Wanstrow and runs one day a week until 19th October. A further course is running in Bath in September, as usual supporting those living with and beyond a diagnosis of cancer.

The courses follow a 2019 collaboration with Bristol-based nature therapy specialists The Natural Academy, who have trained four of WHY’s counselling team to deliver the course. Groups meet once a week in a beautiful natural setting and take part in guided individual and group activities, all aimed at increasing a connection with nature to improve wellbeing.

WHY counsellor and WHYoutdoors facilitator Barbara Gonzalez says: “WHYoutdoors aims to resource participants with the skills, knowledge and experiential awareness of how their relationship to nature can be a supportive resource and, importantly, how this relationship can be reciprocal. The courses help participants to develop a closer relationship to nature, deepen their own self-awareness and share their experiences with peers making meaningful and supportive connections.”

To be eligible for the bereavement group, participants should be over 18 and have experienced bereavement a year or more ago. If the bereavement was more recent, there are more bereavement courses planned and We Hear You hold a waiting list for these courses. The course in Bath is open to any individual over 18 who is living with and beyond cancer.

Feedback for previous WHYoutdoors courses includes:

“A truly wonderful, enlightening and beautiful experience…it has changed my life.”

“The facilitators took us on an exploration of ourselves using nature as a tool which was so simple yet life changing for me.”

"I’ve been totally inspired by it. Simple things like listening to the rain, two years ago I would have been sat at the laptop and I wouldn’t have even noticed it, I wouldn’t have taken the time to go out and stand in it, which I would now because it’s priceless. It was a gift to have the time to be outside, be peaceful, be alone in good company, I couldn’t wait to get there every week."

To find out more and refer yourself for the next WHYoutdoors courses call 01373 455255 or email info@wehearyou.org.uk.

wehearyou.org.uk/whyoutdoors

 

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