UPDATE: April 2010 - a full report on this project can be viewed on the ESF-Works website.
Project - European Social Fund
Working towards employability:
Unlocking the potential of people with disabilities
Project Summary
Wyldwoods is a rural training project in the Shropshire hills at which participants take part in a variety of rural and outdoor activities specifically designed for those with learning and other disabilities. The sessions ran over a 30 week period and enabled a variety of different participants (31 people) to take part for an agreed time as was suitable to their needs, this resulted in many participants having access to Wyldwoods for at least one day per week.
Sarah Johnston (see below) was a participant who was able to quickly progress to have a different role within the group, as an assistant and to give help to those in need of extra support.
Participation was made possible for some parents with young children by ESF funding for childrens' activities leaders.
Project Overview
- Region: West Midlands
- Key target group: Adults with learning or other disabilities and mental health issues who are economically inactive
A video of was made by some of the participants in the project. See what they thought here.
Key project message
Directed rural activities, creative arts and crafts conducted in a natural environment can provide a safe, healthy focus through which to support people with learning and other disabilities to find a sense of self worth and responsibility, and lead to better employability.
Project in detail
Wyldwoods is a rural training facility offering ‘creative arts for well-being’ for adults with disabilities and people needing special support to help get back into work or training. It was set up by Stephanie Brett, a teacher who specialises in special needs provision, to ‘meet the needs of disadvantaged individuals through meaningful, practical, rural experiences’. With a focus on outdoor practical arts and rural craft activities, a 30 week programme was delivered by tutors with training and experience in teaching and traditional arts and crafts, and supported by local volunteers. Some of the volunteers have personal experience of disabilities and mental health issues, and the project offers them the opportunity to further develop their strengths while helping others. The belief that everyone has a voice and needs to be heard underpins all aspects of the project, and helps each person express themselves – whether vocally, through body language or other means – this was a fundamental feature of the programme.
In addition to training in arts, crafts and traditional skills (e.g. building ‘hides’ or wooden structures, making felt, or woodworking), participants were encouraged to take responsibility by adopting an aspect of ongoing maintenance while they were here, for example, caring for the chickens, ducks rabbits and guinea pigs. Wyldwoods includes a herb garden, small animals, vegetables, an orchard and a large area of natural meadow and woodland. Indoor activities are held in an open-design stable block conversion or a separate Mongolian yurt, both of which have a sense of integration with the environment. All activities are designed to emphasise the individual’s power of expression and the environment creates a stimulus for learning.
A Visit to Wyldwoods by Pat Maurice
(ESF-Works Regional Coordinator - Midlands)
This rainy day in July did not dampen the opportunity to share in the vision and work of Wyldwoods with founder, Stephanie Brett, project participant, Sarah, and project coordinator, Anne-Marie Lagram. After a tour of the grounds and facilities, Sarah talked about her experiences at Wyldwoods.. Sarah came to the project some time after she lost her job in a commercial flooring factory. She developed depression and high levels of anxiety which prevented her from taking on permanent work and was advised that volunteering might be a good route to help move her towards being more work-ready. She describes herself when she first came to Wyldwoods, as introverted and isolated from people, and with low levels of self esteem and confidence. She came to the project first as a participant in the programme and then stayed on to help others, working with adults with learning difficulties. As her confidence grew, she came out of her shell, began communicating more effectively with people, and decided that she would like to work towards becoming a Teaching Assistant.
She describes Wyldwoods as an environment for healing and learning. ‘It creates a calmness and a tranquility when you come here’. She feels safe in the environment, as if ‘nothing can harm her’. During her time at Wyldwoods she became more outgoing and direct and began to feel more in control, even when encountering setbacks in her health. ‘I’ve been able to grow with myself, to gain more confidence and self esteem. I feel part of society rather than dismissed, in a corner,’ said Sarah.
Anne-Marie Lagram, the ESF Project Coordinator, elaborated on the philosophy behind the work that they do. Education through the natural elements encourages looking, observing, feeling. Great progress can be made in small ways. ‘You do so little to get so much.’ Some of the participants of the programme are severely disabled and have been dismissed in terms of their worth and contribution to society. The project management and tutors’ belief in people’s innate ability transfers to participants and their sense of self value increases.
Where possible, the project teaches tangible skills to help the participant move towards entering employment but, initially, they target softer skills such as helping people express themselves, and take the time to find out what people need and want to achieve. Although they work within a group, each member of the group is treated as an individual, and particular effort is made to find ways to engage each participant.
In this beautiful, natural ecology, the project gives each individual the space to discover their inner voice and to engage with others, however small. The result is that participants come away, in Anne-Marie’s words, ‘with a feeling that they have value and have something to give’ and with a stronger sense of the contribution they can make to the group. This is a potent example of how empowering the individual enhances the collective, when each person is able to express themselves – and thus contribute – more fully.
A recent news article supplied by the Learning and Skills Council:
Sarah finds her way helping others
Most people know what it feels like to have good and bad days, but for those with depression things can get much worse.
For Sarah Johnston, age 34 from Broseley, Shropshire, depression had taken hold of her life after being made redundant from a factory job at a commercial flooring factory in Telford at the end of March 2009. Sarah’s career since leaving school has been disjointed, mostly working at local factories.
After spending two month’s out of work, Sarah was feeling down and was looking for something to do that would make life worthwhile. She was told about the Wyldwoods project, which is funded by the Learning and Skills Council and West Midlands Local Government Association’s European Social Fund (ESF) programme, at her local library and didn’t hesitate in contacting the project to find out more about it.
Sarah said: “I get depressed sometimes and I need a structure to my life – a reason to get up in the morning and the idea of volunteering to help other people really appealed to me.
“I have mild learning difficulties too and when I was offered the chance to join the Wyldwoods project and support other people with learning difficulties – many of them more severe than my own - it was like a new door opening and made me feel motivated and more confident.”
When Sarah was at school, she recalls being made to feel different from the other students, due to her learning difficulties, and sometimes being pushed to one side because teachers did not think she was capable of achieving. When she was given the opportunity to work with other people with learning difficulties, she enjoyed giving them the support and encouragement that she herself missed out on. She said:
“This project is fantastic and has really helped me a lot. Working alongside the project leader, I am helping other people with learning difficulties to learn more about caring for animals and gardening and just helping them to get to know other people too. Helping them is helping me and I have just enrolled on a new course for the first time since leaving school.”
After a meeting at her local Jobcentre Plus, Sarah is starting an employment skills course, covering numeracy and literacy skills, at County Training in Stafford Park, Telford, at the end of June. Her place on the course is funded by the region’s ESF programme and after completing it, she is hoping to get a job as a classroom assistant. She will be attending the course three days a week for 15 weeks and she intends to keep in touch with her friends at the Wyldwoods project.
The rural training project run by Wyldwoods near Broseley, Shropshire, takes place on a weekly basis, when a group of learners come together to experience a mix of rural and outdoor activities. One of the most popular parts of the course involves learning how to care for animals and other activities including organic gardening, holistic therapies, story-telling and learning about nature and the environment and natural art forms.
This project is open to people with disabilities or learning difficulties or anyone who is in need of special support to help them to get back into training or to identify a possible career path. Wyldwoods also provides recreational courses to the community and has a comprehensive list of subjects available for anyone to take part in over the coming months. Wyldwoods is also an alternative education provider for schools and other organisations, groups and individuals.
For more information about the region’s ESF co-financing programme, please contact Hannah Pries, Laura Reid or Christine Smart on 0121 456 3199 or email christine.smart@smarts.co.uk.