COMMUNITY PROJECTS
Our Past and Present Women's Community Projects.
Women's Circle Journey
Date: February 2022
Duration: 5 Weeks
Funding: Forestry & Land Scotland, and Inspiring Scotland - Rural Communities Fund
The Women’s Circles project was based on a series of workshops designed for women to reconnect to themselves, each other and nature. Exploring women’s cycles and stages of womanhood and their connection to nature’s cycles.
The project journeyed with ten women in a local woodland over a period of five weeks. We created supported spaces for women in nature and focused on different ways of expression from art, creative activities, movement and conversation. Using peer-support to care and support women.
The project used contact with nature workshops to help maintain and develop mental and physical health.
The overall aim of the project was to create spaces in nature to help connect women back to our natural environment, which in turn reminds us to care for ourselves, our community and the Earth.
The last magical evening when we went on our forest walk in the dark. Our senses came alive!
Spending some reflective time in nature.
Looking at the details and intricacy in nature.
Mother's Wellbeing Group
Date: March 2022
Duration: 6 Weeks
Funding: HTSI - Health & Wellbeing Fund
The Mother's Wellbeing Group was designed to be a mother focused group, allowing a free flowing space for mother and child. We provided optional on site child-minding, to allow that extra support for the mother's attending.
The focus was to help mother's with young children that have felt the effects of isolation over the past few years. We wanted to provide a safe space to meet other mother's, and to work with local practitioners and facilitators to offer gentle movement and mindfulness that would support mental wellbeing.
The funding provided six weeks of sessions, along with enabling us to purchase all the equipment required to carry this on long into the future.
Mums taking some free movement time to roll out their sore backs.
Mothers and children enjoying the cam relaxing space.
The space and energy created by all those facilitating and attending made for a very special experience.
Throughout the six weeks we worked with over ten different facilitators and carers. Another aspect of the funding was to ensure wrap-around support for those working to create the group. This was in the form of a decent wage, which gave thought to extra costs such as travel and insurance for those working. Women statistically are paid much less, and often do much more for 'free' in jobs such as caring, childcare, arts and alternative therapies. As a women owned business we wanted to ensure that these aspects were taken into consideration.
Once the project was completed we also provided time for the carers and facilitators to meet up and have time to connect with each other to help build relationships in their thematic community and support each other in how we could all work together to improve the project for the future.
Moving with the Tides
Date: Upcoming
Duration: 1 Year
Fund:
We would like to offer a series of regular women centered workshops or nature hub that focus on a range of arts, movement and sound to connect to our immediate environment – our coastline. Exploring our connection to our coastal environment, looking at natures cycles both tides/moon & seasons and to our own hormonal cycles and life cycles specific to women.
By creating workshops and places for women to spend time outdoors in nature we are also tackling the importance of needing safe spaces to enable this exploration.
We know from personal and shared experiences that women of all ages face barriers when wanting to experience nature particularly in rural areas. Fear for safety, vulnerability, accessibility and objectification mean that women carry an extra emotional load in order to enjoy time in nature.
Time in nature has a positive impact on mental health, we want to enhance that idea in a more gender specific way. Using our own lived experience as women, talking with women on our events/projects, while also working with local women facilitators we hope to co-create spaces that directly benefit women’s wellbeing.
Looking for the small positive signs in nature.
Our women's walk with nature allowed women time together, and also time to learn about the abundance of produce that surrounds us.
Amy and Emma taking time together as friends and as always time to talk business.