Nature Connection

Nature Connection – Woodland Walk 🌿

Our recent Nature Connection outpatient session felt especially grounding. Starting at the Yurt before heading into the Hospice beautiful grounds, the group enjoyed a relaxed afternoon of conversation, creativity and mindfulness.

Along the Woodland Walk, members and staff gathered around the picnic table to make bug hotels from natural materials such as leaves and moss, creating safe shelters for insects to nest and thrive. Surrounded by trees and birdsong, the activity encouraged calm, open conversation as members shared updates on their respective weeks, progress and treatments, all while finding support and connection in one another.

The group then gathered at the Storyteller’s Chair for refreshments, where members took turns reading aloud poems written for last week’s homework challenge – to compose a haiku. Sharing these words among the trees created a moving moment of reflection. Keeping with the Japanese theme, they also explored the therapeutic benefits of shinrin-yoku (forest light bathing) and komorebi (dappled sunlight filtering through the forest canopy), which can encourage mindfulness, ease mental fatigue and foster gratitude for nature. As one member shared, “Being outside in nature today really helped me feel calmer and more connected. Also, hearing everyone’s poems among the trees was an uplifting experience.”

Stepping outside our problems, to breathe, share and connect was a powerful reminder that nature doesn’t just surround us – it sustains us. For many of the people we support, moments like these can bring comfort, companionship and a sense of peace during an incredibly difficult time.

This summer, your kindness can help make more of these moments possible. By donating to our Summer of Care Appeal, you’ll make a difference to someone who may be facing the most difficult time of their life.

Please give generously to our Summer of Care Appeal: 👉stfrancis.org.uk/appeal

#NatureConnection #HospiceCare #SummerAppeal #ForestBathing  #CommunitySupport #WellnessInNature