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Fund will increase nature as a path to recovery

Nature has been a blessing for people who have felt lonely or isolated over the past two years.

From waking to the sound of a blackbird or a thrush singing, to listening to skylarks above meadows and moors, wildlife is the soundtrack that has dragged us out of our homes into the fresh air. The pandemic has raised anxiety about health, mental health, well-being and unemployment, among both the young and old. And, over the last month, fears about the Climate Crisis have shaken many people, adding to worries about everyday life.

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While millions of people have felt traumatised by the crises around them, nature has been a prescription, helping with many of the problems.

Walking in parks and countryside, listening to birds singing and bees humming, discovering hedgehogs and frogs in your garden, have lifted spirits.

And The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside have been at the forefront of using nature as a prescription to health issues that have dominated the lives of many people, through its Myplace project.

Myplace promotes green wellbeing – or ecotherapy – through activities reconnecting people with the natural world in innovative ways and wild places.

Supported by experts from the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, Myplace has already helped close to 2,000 people, with more than 20,000 sessions in woodlands, meadows and our own network of greenhouses across the region.

The project also benefits everyone of us, Myplace’s young people and adults have improved over 200 local greenspaces for nature, creating wild habitats, benches, bird tables and bug boxes in gardens, community land and nature reserves.

Myplace has already made a difference to so many lives. We know this works and can have a huge impact and we need your help to continue this and change even more lives.

After just a couple of sessions, participants are more confident and have something to look forward to. One said: “I’ve had a great time and learned loads. Most of all, you’ve helped me massively whilst I’ve been adjusting to life without my medication. I’m in a much better place mentally thanks to you and for this I’m eternally grateful.”

Myplace has made a huge impact on many lives and, as a result, The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has been selected to take part in the Big Give Christmas Challenge 2021, the UK’s largest match funding campaign. Last year, thanks to generous supporters like you, the campaign raised over £20 million for participating charities.

For £30 you can provide a place for someone to attend a Myplace session and start to use nature to manage their wellbeing, and meet like-minded people. What’s more, for every £1 spent, the social return on investment is £6.88, so we can really make your donation go further.

• Your donation will help us improve the lives of many people suffering from mental health issues, and make a direct impact:

• Improve the wellbeing of those people who most need it, building their self-resilience and ultimately reducing health inequalities, loneliness and social isolation.

• Embed a green social prescription service for anyone experiencing the early signs of low wellbeing and poor mental health.

• Reconnect people who are nature deprived with their local green space, and empower them to take an active role in conservation activities and the development of Nature Recovery Networks.

Donations to this project will be matched for seven days from Tuesday, November 30, #GivingTuesday. That’s one donation, but twice the impact. We have a match pot of £850 from which your donations can be doubled, and in total we need to raise £26,000 to really make an impact.

What happens during the Christmas Challenge?

Donations made to our project via theBigGive.org.uk will be doubled during the campaign, whilst the match funds are available. If you would like to support our work this year, we highly recommend doing so during the Christmas Challenge, when your donation will be doubled and make even more of a difference to us. What do I need to do? • Visit our campaign page here: https://donate.thebiggive.org.uk/ campaign/a056900001wXcVcAAK • Have your 3D-secure card details ready when you make your donation. • Share our campaign page with your family and friends to help us spread the word. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us at membership@lancswt.org.uk Alan Wright, Campaigns Manager at the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside, has experienced the amazing work of the Myplace team first hand and other projects that use nature as a prescription to mental health issues. Sitting on the beach, running your hand through the sand is one of the most natural things in the world, isn’t it? Not if you have spent the pandemic in your home, fearful of leaving the house. Speaking to some of the participants on our Myplace and The Bay projects, helps you to realise just how deeply this COVID 19 crisis has affected many, many people. And not just COVID, Climate Change, unemployment, crime, isolation and loneliness, have all been massive contributors to the mental health of thousands of people in the North West. It is not exaggeration to say that millions of people in the UK have really been afraid to leave their homes – or just haven’t been able to get themselves into a happy or healthy routine. When I speak to Myplace participants many of them tell me about family bereavements or financial problems that have built up and put a dead stop to their lives. They feel stranded, unable to ask for help for many reasons, including embarrassment and hopelessness. Once you get to a certain stage you feel nothing and nobody is there to help you. And, yet, when they speak about Myplace, and nature and making friends, their faces change, there is a sudden joy, excitement and passion for what they are doing. “I am building a bird box!” “I saw a kestrel today.” “I have just eaten a tomato, which I grew myself.” The chains of misery that have been weighing them down are suddenly lifted and there is a light at the end of the darkest tunnel. Some of them will really open up to you and their stories are heartbreaking, some of them have been driven to very edge before friends, family or a health professional eased them back. Myplace is about keeping busy, having something to look forward to and discussing your life with new friends, who have probably had similar experiences or reached similar, devastating stages in their lives. Going back some time, I remember a week when I was totally under pressure for days and was feeling exhausted and at my limit. I actually spend a day with our Nature Friendly Schools team. Like Myplace, it was looking at people with particular problems, in this case children, and how nature can help them. Parents were at the school that day and I noticed one little boy, running around, delighted to be outdoors with his friends. His mum was in tears, previously she had been told he was uninterested and disruptive in class. He hardly said a word in the classroom. He had become a chatterbox and fascinated in the wild things all around, just by being outdoors. This affected me and a day spent with these young people raised my spirits, I was ready for a couple of huge challenges at work over the following weeks. This natural prescription to a whole range of physical and mental issues has been the basis for Myplace over the past five years. Some of the stories do bring tears to my eyes, even now just thinking about them. It is a difficult conversation talking to someone who has contemplated suicide, but hearing about how our patient and sympathetic Myplace team have helped them to turn their lives around is amazing. The stirring thing is that most of the participants just want to play their part in society. Through Myplace they are making a difference for themselves, their community and other people who will see them as a shining example of how they can life themselves up too. During Big Giving Week, beginning on Tuesday, December 30, any money you donate to Myplace, will be doubled and go towards helping people in your community to get on the road back from the dark place they have fallen into.

The Wildlife Trusts

The Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside is dedicated to the protection and promotion of the wildlife in Lancashire, seven boroughs of Greater Manchester and four of Merseyside, all lying north of the River Mersey. It manages around 40 nature reserves and 20 Local Nature Reserves covering acres of woodland, wetland, upland and meadow. The Trust has 30,000 members, and over 1,200 volunteers. To become a member of the Trust go to the website at www.lancswt.org.uk or call 01772 324129

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