21 August 2024 –
May joined LandWorks three months ago as our new Health and Wellbeing Lead. She recently took time out to tell us about what brought her to LandWorks, and how she spends her days here.
I grew up in Sheffield. Having obtained a psychology degree and masters, I went straight into a pastoral role in a school before joining Sheffield Mind, supporting people with mental health issues. My next role was as a psychology assistant helping children and young people with learning disabilities. However, it was my time working as an assistant psychologist for CERT (Community Enhancing Recover Team) that really opened my mind to the possibilities of person-centred, non-judgemental support.
CERT is an award-winning team with a very similar ethos to LandWorks. It was initially designed for people with severe and enduring mental health problems, many of whom had been in institutions for a long time. Our role was all about helping them find their way back into the community working intensively with them on the factors in their lives that might be contributing to their mental health difficulties. It was powerful in its approach to reducing stigma around mental health issues. Coming to LandWorks has felt like coming home.
After five years at CERT, I took a career break and retrained in horticulture. I don’t mind saying that I was a little burnt out and I felt I need to take stock about where I wanted my career to go. I’d always had a very strong relationship with nature and that really helped me when I was feeling burnt out. I went to work as an apprentice at Moor Trees, an independent charity dedicated to restoring native woodland on Dartmoor and in South Devon. From there I secured a 6-month placement at LandWorks and absolutely loved my time here. I was commuting from Bristol at the time because it was so hard to find accommodation. I’d get up at 5 each morning to drive here but felt really energised by the end of the day. I loved the opportunity to build relationships with the trainees, hear their stories, and have deep conversations through the lens of nature. It’s such a lovely way in. So, I couldn’t believe my fortune when the vacancy for a new Health and Wellbeing Lead came up.
My role as Health and Wellbeing Lead is about building relationships with the trainees, understanding the issues they each struggle with, and responding to their needs on a day-to-day basis. That might be help with practical resettlement tasks, such as filling out forms for support services, helping them with their medication plans, or supporting them if they think they want counselling. Sometimes people are a bit scared of it, being unsure what it involves, and talking can them to understand if its right for them. I also liaise with other stakeholders such as Citizens Advice Bureau, drug and alcohol services, and help trainees with accommodation and employment, feeding back to the LandWorks team so that we can deliver joined up support.
Tough times and past traumas can affect our nervous system and our ability to make decisions and choices. LandWorks offers trainees a safe and calming space which helps them to think more clearly about the choices available to them.
I love working and chatting alongside trainees out to the field where I think they feel less pressured and more likely to open up. I am also excited by the potential the yurt offers for wellbeing activities such as our new yoga sessions. Tucked away in its beautiful natural setting it offers a space to reflect back on things. It has a different feel from the resettlement room, much more grounded. It’s somewhere the trainees can sink into and hopefully feel a sense of release.
When I first started here, it took a little time to get to know the trainees and earn their trust. Now, they are starting to seek me out and tell me about what they are doing. It feels a massive privilege to be here.