To call the past six weeks life-changing seems like a cliché, yet trying to concisely define it with any other adjective feels entirely inadequate. I must admit that upon starting my Leadership in Action project I was not expecting anything ground-breaking. While the Wilderness Foundation ticks all my boxes, and being a part of the Laidlaw programme itself was exciting, I suppose I underestimated my capacity for growth and development in the span of only six weeks.

The Wilderness Foundation is a United Kingdom based charity which promotes nature and time outdoors as a means to enhance wellbeing, connection to nature, and care for nature. The services offered by Wilderness are extensive; from 1-2-1 counselling, school visits, programmes for both domestic violence survivors and their children, hiking trips, and more. Upon stumbling across Wilderness, I knew their ethos aligned entirely with my values and the cause I hoped to support in this project.

My role with the Foundation was varied. For the first four weeks, I assisted in the day-to-day running of the holiday camps. Twenty children aged 5-13 arrived each day at 9:30am and stayed with us until 3:30pm. Our team, consisting of Terri, Liam, Catherine, and Emma, took our group down to the ‘woods’ – a woodland area located on Wilderness’s site. In the woods, we roasted marshmallows, brewed hot chocolate, built dens, and played in the wild. While each day consisted of many fun games for the children, it also offered them a unique experience to connect with nature. Some of the children who came to us live in apartments or small homes without gardens. For them, this time was extremely special.

During this month, alongside assisting in camps each day, I was also investigating some research on the side. This research analysed the ways Wilderness could enhance its core values through these camps. After finding research supporting a certain activity, we would try this with a group. We sang songs about feeling one’s heart beat, we walked with our shoes off and eyes closed, we meditated, we read stories. Each day was a new adventure, a clean slate of something we could try with the children.

As the finder of these activities, I was often the one leading them. In this role, my leadership skills truly felt put to the test. To be honest, sometimes I felt like I failed. When we encouraged the children to sing a song we chose, many quieted down and silently refused. When we prepared for walking with our eyes closed, many didn’t want to take their shoes off or spoke loudly above my instructions. However, with the support of my team, these setbacks never wore me down. And finally, I felt my persistent efforts pay off.

One day, as we were preparing to return to the woods after lunch, a small boy approached me complaining about the noise of the group. It should be noted that many of the children who come to the Wilderness Foundation are neurodiverse, and may have varying degrees of additional needs. For this boy, in that moment, his needs manifested in a desire for quiet. Asking him to sit on the ground beside me, I suggested we take a few deep breaths. After eagerly doing so, he relaxed immediately and claimed, “I feel so calm”. This boy later showed much enthusiasm to listening to a story about being calm in the woods, declaring he liked that there was “no bad bits” in it. Additionally, he was extremely proud of his tree-hugging abilities, asking to demonstrate these to me. The conversations I had with this young child, and the opportunity to witness the positive effects calming breaths and being in nature had on him, truly made my day. 

In my last two weeks with the Wilderness Foundation, I researched studies and programmes surrounding intervention courses for both female survivors and children exposed to domestic violence. Ultimately, I wrote two reports relaying the information I found. This includes one mock ten-week intervention course which I hope the Wilderness Foundation will trial in their future Blossom programmes. Regardless, the findings of this research will assist Wilderness in their future domestic violence-focused programmes, providing a strong scientifically supported basis to their courses.

During the past six weeks, not only was my day-to-day experience exciting and educational, the culmination of every part of my life seemed to align perfectly. Living in the middle of the Essex countryside, I felt extremely detached from my usual London life, yet entirely in tune with myself. In a weird, somewhat magical way, I one day realised what I truly feel passionate about. Studying a law degree, I had previously planned to follow a career path towards either Climate Change or AI law – both extremely topical in today’s world. However, after learning more about domestic violence through the Wilderness Foundation, and knowing my tendency to advocate for women, I become impassioned by a need to support women’s rights. A week before course selection, I changed paths entirely to align with this newfound passion, and felt so sure of this decision that I have yet to look back.

In this way, upon reflecting on my SMART goals I feel that while most of these were accomplished, my goals expanded and became more holistic during my placement. Two of my SMART goals focused on developing my leadership skills in relation to children in particular, and my interpersonal and communication skills in an office environment. Across my time with the Wilderness Foundation, these goals were definitely achieved. I felt increasingly comfortable with my own leadership style and in communication with my colleagues. My final goal was to improve my observational skills and ability to critique a working environment. Initially, I expected my role to involve more analysis and assessment of the courses offered by the Wilderness Foundation, through observation. Instead, I was more involved in reviewing research studies and other courses online in order to scientifically support the work at Wilderness. Therefore, while this goal was less practised, I instead gained greater online research and report writing skills. However, while at Wilderness I grew to appreciate the opportunity for these six weeks to teach me about myself and how I like to lead. Having the opportunity to take charge on tasks which were entirely my own taught me the way I like to work with others, lead others, and effectively achieve objectives. Thus, while I did not explicitly set out to learn more about myself, I definitely did across the course of my placement. 

Ultimately, the past six weeks have been a whirlwind of curiosity, change, learning, friendship, comraderie and more. I could not have asked for a better team to support me than the one at Wilderness. Each lovely soul in the Foundation is filled with compassion, love and kindness, and I am eternally grateful that for six weeks I was able to be a part of that. With wings of a different shade, and a heart filled to the brim, the Wilderness Foundation has pushed me to the top of the tallest tree from which I now fly into the world.