We have been running a successful Ecotherapy project at Foundry Wood for over a year.

We need your votes to get funding to continue and expand the project.

Ecotherapy is aimed at people struggling with their mental and physical health to encourage them to get outdoors and connecting with nature. Positive wellbeing is nurtured by the participant’s own interaction with the natural environment.

Weekly sessions involve woodland maintenance, craft activities and socialising. Session feedback is proving that this outdoor therapy is a winning formula: “Getting back to nature has been brilliant. I wish I could do it more often”; “It’s really inspired me and given me confidence”; “It’s helped with my anxiety”; “I’m achieving something and helping others”.

We have put a proposal to Aviva Community Fund, but only projects with the most votes will become finalists, so public support is vital.

Kath Pasteur, one of the session leaders of Ecotherapy says “Being in nature can have a profound impact on vulnerable or isolated people, making them feel more inspired, positive, calmer, accepted and confident. With this additional funding we will be able to offer exciting new outdoor opportunities accessible to people with learning disabilities and people in addiction recovery. There are very few projects like this in the Leamington and Warwick area, and the session at Foundry Wood is becoming oversubscribed.”

To support ARC’s Ecotherapy for Health and Wellbeing project and help make a difference in your local community, visit https://www.avivacommunityfund.co.uk/voting/project/view/16-2238 and submit your vote before 18 November 2016. Registering and voting takes less than 5 minutes and it’s FREE!