Please note: This course will be unavailable until 2017. This is because we are currently focussing all our resources on the development and delivery of new Natural Change Leadership projects. If you would like to be contacted when the next course opens for applications, please register your interest.
This is a professional development course for those interested in facilitating groups using approaches pioneered on WWF’s Natural Change Project.
This introduction to facilitating Natural Change course is being run to create a community of professionals who are able to lead future programmes using the Natural Change approach.
It is important to note that this course forms only part of a path of training and development. Because of the nature of the process - which combines outdoor leadership, therapeutic, and educational theories and practices - this short course cannot provide full professional competency in one go. Time will be spent helping everyone identify their next steps in training for this kind of work.
Ideally applicants should have experience working with individuals or groups therapeutically, or on
personal and/or social change programmes. It doesn’t matter if this work
experience is indoors, or outdoor-based. If you don’t have this kind of specific experience you may still be eligible to apply. For example, if you are intending to start working outdoors on change programmes - or if you are just interested in change processes from a professional perspective. If in doubt, please contact
us.
The Natural Change process is complex and dynamic. It operates on different psychological levels simultaneously. These include: conscious levels of awareness - comprising those ideas, values and beliefs which are relatively easy to access and explore; subconscious levels - including deep-seated assumptions about the world, which are accessible to us, but often only after deliberate and sometimes challenging effort and; unconscious levels - which take us into the realm of dreams, symbols, myths, archetypes, images and transpersonal experience.
In the Natural Change programme the aspirations of the group lead the process. In this creative and supportive environment, each participant’s personal journey, and the collective journey of the group can take form.
In practical terms, the process includes small and whole group work and individual tasks - including intellectual, sensory, intuitive and emotional elements. The work includes structured wilderness ‘solo’ time, story-telling and reviewing of experiences, spending time together outdoors working experientially, and short theory sessions on a wide variety of subjects. Throughout, the participants learn from and develop relationships with each other and with the natural environment. The process builds a highly cohesive community of people who explore change and leadership towards sustainability in an authentic, inspiring and empowering way.
This course is for anyone who would like to know more about Natural Change by experiencing the core process for themselves.
Participants may be interested in commissioning a full six-month or one-year Natural Change Leadership project for their organisation or community as part of a strategic programme of change or; they may simply have a personal interested in Natural Change and want to find out more.
The course is also an ideal introduction to those interested in facilitating Natural Change, or similar ways of working outdoors. For more information on facilitator training >>
All prospective participants will be asked to submit a written application for their place on the course and their taking part will be at the discretion of the programme leaders.
Facilitating the Natural Change process requires a depth of experience and a breadth of practical and psychological skills. This training programme will identify what those skills are, explore pathways to gain the relevant experience and cover the techniques, theoretical bases, practices and processes involved.
Please be aware that the course does not lead to professional competency in facilitating the Natural Change approach. Past participants have generally found that they require at least some further training and / or experience in one of the skill areas, for example, outdoor leadership or psychotherapy.
Facilitators interested in leading Natural Change-style programmes are likely to have backgrounds in developmental outdoor education, transformative and experiential education, psychotherapy, counselling, social work or health care. It is not necessary to be a ‘super-leader’ who has experience and skills in all these fields, as we take a teamwork approach to facilitating Natural Change - where two leaders work together in a complimentary way on each programme.
Participants will need to be emotionally mature, self-aware and have a good base of life experience. You will also need to be passionate about sustainability and the more-than-human environment.
All prospective participants will be asked to submit a written application for their place on this course and their taking part will be at the discretion of the programme leaders.
By the end of this course participants will have:
• experienced elements of the core Natural Change process for
themselves;
• gained an overview of the theoretical, cultural and historical
bases for the Natural Change approach;
• developed an understanding of the benefits and challenges of this type of training approach;
• contextualised Natural Change in their own personal and/or professional context;
• identified a personal pathway for gaining further
experience and/or training.
You will spend six nights and five days in a beautiful and inspirational place. The whole course will be based outside, weather permitting. Some sessions will run indoors if the weather insists!
The programme consists of two distinct parts. The first four days are spent immersing ourselves personally in the heart of the Natural Change process. The final day is then spent exploring how Natural Change might help you in your personal and professional life.
| Arrival | 14.00: Meet at the designated ‘meeting point’. 16.00: Introductions and overview. The Natural Change strategy for catalysing social change. |
|---|---|
| Day One: | Getting to know the place and each other. Small group work, slowing down and exploring the land. |
| Day Two: | Finding direction and solo preparation. |
| Day Three: | A dawn to dusk ‘solo’ spent in silence. This is the heart of the process for many participants. This is not a test of survival! Rather, it is a rare chance to simply ‘be’ in the humbling face of nature. |
| Day Five: | Theories and ideas central to the Natural Change approach. |
| Day Six: | Facilitation: philosophy, practices and issues. The Natural Change community of practice. Incorporating your experience after the course. |
| Departure: | Depart after breakfast. |
Final content depends on environmental and weather conditions and the
aspirations of the group.
This course is not a test of endurance! It is a chance to slow down and experience nature in new ways, while exploring the social and ecological dimensions of the Natural Change approach.
We always move at the speed of the slowest person, with the focus firmly on enjoying and connecting with the land and sea, and with each other.
As a guideline - you will need to be able to carry a day pack containing your personal equipment (waterproofs, spare jacket/jumper, lunch, flask, etc) for periods of up to four hours in a coastal environment, without paths.
Accommodation is usually on a twin-share basis with shared facilities.
Some single rooms are sometimes available by negotiation with the rest of the
group. Bedding and towels are provided.
All meals, snacks and drinks are provided throughout, prepared fresh
everyday.
We have over 15 years experience delivering outdoor-based programmes world-wide. Risk assessments are completed for every location where we work. These are reviewed each time an activity is delivered.
Natural Change facilitators complete a specialist two-year programme of training. They each hold an outdoor first aid certificate and undertake regular CPD training. They also receive ongoing supervision support whenever they are leading a programme. All outdoor elements are led by facilitators with National Governing Body qualifications in outdoor leadership for the activities undertaken.
Our risk management system is reviewed annually.
Natural Change facilitators hold professional, public and product liability insurance covering all the outdoor activities involved in Natural Change.
Once a participant’s place on a programme is confirmed, extensive information is sent to them about equipment, travel, accommodation and other preparations. They will also attend an orientation session to cover any questions or issues.