Q&A with alice, Green light trust participant

Learn about our support for adult mental health and wellbeing and read a Q&A with one of our participants, Alice, who explains more about her time on one of our 12-week pathways.

alice’s experience at green light trust

Tell us about yourself and how you came to Green Light Trust?

My name is Alice, I am 35 years old and I have had involvement from secondary mental health services for the past 3-years and I have also had a number of admissions in acute mental health wards. I am autistic and I also have ADHD, along with mental health difficulties.

As part of my recovery and as a way to help me reintegrate back into the community, I was referred to Green Light Trust.  Even though I had never met the support worker before, she was so lovely and spent so much time talking to me over the phone.

I needed some routine and structure to build my self-confidence and have something to fill my weeks with.  I decided to take a leap and go out of my comfort zone and have a try; and thank goodness I did!

How did you begin your day?

I would arrive just before 10am.  We would all sit around the fire and spend a little time introducing ourselves and talking, saying as much or as little as we wanted to. The leader would talk about what the plans were for the day and – most importantly – find out what was on the menu for lunch!

After our morning circle time, we’d often go for a mindful walk around the woodlands and it was never ‘just a walk’.

During our walk, we would be encouraged to be mindful and seek out new things that we’d never come across before. Sometimes we would take rakes around with us and rake the leaves off of the paths as we went along (if you were feeling energetic), to help make it easier for other camp users to access them. This was a great way to warm up, especially in the more colder winter weeks. I found it ironic and rather funny that the thought of raking a literal forest floor was actually a purposeful task!

The walk was very much weather and group-energy dependent, so if people wanted a shorter walk, then there were many circuits to accommodate this and the same goes for those wishing for longer ones.

What did your afternoon look like?

When we arrived back at the camp, time for another hot drink and some biscuits.

We would then do our main focus task of the day, which would have been different each week and included activities like wood collection for making things with and felling trees (this was awesome by the way and I now know how to chop down a rather large tree by myself, safely and without using a chainsaw!)

There were craft activities and you could also offer to help prepare and make lunch. I brought my guitar along a couple of times and we’d sing around the fire; kumbaya vibes anyone?!

If you were feeling a little low or tired, or just felt unable to take part in the activities on any given week or time during the session, then that was more than OK too.

There was plenty of time to talk to others. As the people attending each week were the same throughout the 12-weeks, you start to get to know one another and make some friends. Everyone there was so accommodating, understanding and non-judgmental.

How did staff support you during your time at Green Light Trust?

Each week you have a short 1:1 chat with the camp leader, where you have the opportunity to talk about what you hope to achieve.  The staff there are always around to help support you in reaching your targets or simply getting through the morning. To start with, my target was as simple as turning up each week, but after a few weeks, this was no trouble for me at all.

What were some of the benefits of attending?

I have since stayed in touch with a wonderful friend who I had met there, and I came away from the 12-week course with far more knowledge about the outdoors and a far greater ability to just ‘be’ in nature than I ever had before. It also gave me the confidence to then go on to apply to become a volunteer for another support charity and I got the position; I owe a great deal to having done this course, as it helped with my confidence in meeting people immensely.

I have since met up with a few friends I met on the course and it was lovely to have bonded over the activities we had done and our time spent in the woods.

Did you notice a change in yourself from the start to the end of the course?

To start with, I was just adamant to finish the course, just to say that I had completed it and ticked a box (and also to make the referral and the lovely many hours spent talking on the phone to the coordinator worth their time), but it wasn’t long before I found a sense of belonging there and looked forward to those Monday mornings and didn’t want for them to end!

Any advice for others who may be considering attending?

The only advice I would give you is; if you’re doing it in the winter, be sure to take plenty of warm clothing. Layer up if you can, because sometimes it does get very cold. Gloves are an absolute must. But don’t forget that the fire is always going if you ever need to thaw out!

I do really hope that you will take that leap, push yourself out of your comfort zone and have a go; you really have nothing to lose.

Since leaving Green Light Trust, Alice is now in full time employment working in the mental health field- an amazing achievement!