Sarah* works in the NHS as a Support Worker. As part of the Nature for Health programme, Lancashire Wildlife Trust invited a number of NHS workers to see and experience their Nature & Wellbeing sessions, to help enhance their knowledge about the services they could refer patients to.
Sarah wasn’t too keen about being out in nature and was a bit sceptical about Green Social Prescribing:
I was nervous about supporting my group, as I presumed it would be cold, muddy and had the prejudgement that it was run by nature lovers. I had become quite nervous knowing I was responsible for encouraging and supporting other people to attend there.
However, once on site, she quickly realised her misconceptions were wrong:
Once I got to know the leaders of the group I soon realised there was a lot more involved than my initial presumptions. I really enjoyed attending the groups, learning lots of different skills, found peace in the location and felt like I belonged in the group setting. Since attending, I am able to talk openly about my experience with new participants who also start with prejudgements.
*name changed to protect identity