In 1903, the Scottish-born conservationist, John Muir, took President Theodore Roosevelt on a camping trip to California’s Yosemite valley. As a result of his experience, Roosevelt created 5 national parks, along with 150 national forests, 51 bird refuges, 4 game preserves, 18 national monuments, 24 reclamation projects and the US National Forest Service.
It’s hard to imagine more powerful social and environmental outcomes, just from spending three days in the mountains.
The Natural Change leadership programme develops the principle of personal outdoor experience as a catalyst to social action - so beautifully illustrated by the example of John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt.
Each Natural Change leadership programme comprises a minimum of two, one-week-long, residential workshops. These are held approximately six months apart in wilderness areas. A series of one-day meetings in urban settings is also held before, between and after these residential workshops. The group works together for a total of around 21 days over the duration of the training.
After the last workshop, participants receive ongoing mentoring support for a minimum of six months. These support them as the integrate their experiences into their every-day lives and professional contexts.
A strong alumni community has evolved for past-participants. This is supported by a private online social community website. There are also regular ‘Gatherings’ where past-participants can re-engage with the experiential element of the process and further develop their support network. Gatherings also provide a lively creative space for developing new ideas and actions.
Participants are invited to take part in the programme because they hold positions of influence in various sectors of society and have the capacity to translate their experiences of personal change into wider action within their own contexts.
Typically, participants are identified by the organisation commissioning each programme. These may be targeted from within the commissioning organisation itself - or they may be drawn from stakeholder groups. For example, a charity might partner with a public sector department in order to deliver a programme targeted at the private sector. In this example, the commissioning partners will have a mutual interest in developing leaders within the target sector.
The evidence suggest that the impact of the programme has been profound on most participants. Personal stories of change are often extraordinary and deeply moving, as well as being extremely diverse. Alongside these personal changes, there have been many impacts across organisational cultures and in one case the programme participants went on to directly influence government policy on sustainability.
For more information about the impacts of the programme, please visit our resources page.
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 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.
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 entire 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.