BLOG: Hannah – ‘Being outside has always helped me to ground myself and find moments of calm amid the chaos of life’
2024 YAB member Hannah shares her experience of nature and how her time on Groundwork’s Youth Advisory Board has enabled her to promote access to green spaces.
At university Hannah struggled with a lack of green space after moving from a town to a city. Finding local green spaces took some time, but once she did, they became important to preserving both her mental well-being and connection to nature. She believes that everyone deserves the same access to nature, and to benefit from it as she has.
During her 12-months with Groundwork’s Youth Advisory Board, Hannah participated in a focus group that contributed to a research project – capturing the views of young people on topics that matter to Groundwork’s mission, including green jobs, access to green space and mental health.
The focus group was a wonderful experience for Hannah – she felt seen and understood amongst other people in the group expressing their ideas and emotions. It allowed her to argue for the importance of increasing access to and maintaining green spaces, referring to her lived experience of mental health and the positive impact of nature.
Hannah said:
“My relationship with nature has been strongly influenced by the purpose and accomplishment associated with volunteering I’ve done with Groundwork or after joining a university conservation group, which also gave me the opportunity to explore green spaces that I wouldn’t typically have time for. These encounters have strengthened my conviction that green social prescribing has the potential to promote community and resilience in addition to providing access to nature.
“The fact that 6.1 million people do not live within a 10-minute walk of green space raises concerns about the barriers to access.
“It is not enough to simply create more parks; they must also be safe, well-maintained, and welcoming to all demographics. Improved healthcare accessibility is also critical, as mental health support and nature-based interventions should work complimentary.
Being outside has always helped me to ground myself and find moments of calm amid the chaos of life. It serves as a reminder that although many people can benefit from nature, not everyone has the same access to it.
Can you lend your voice to Groundwork and help to create a fair and green future in which people, places, and nature thrive?
Applications for Groundwork’s Youth Advisory Board 2025 are now open.