Stories of nature connections
Stories are central to how people make sense of their experiences, and are a common way to share these with others. They are thought to bring greater depth of meaning, context and perspective to lived experiences, an important consideration when trying to understand the impact of an intervention.
The stories presented here reflect the experiences of people involved in the Creating Natural Connections project, such as volunteers, participants in nature walks, project staff and trainees. Using a narrative enquiry approach, we interviewed people in November 2022, with the twofold aim of evaluating the impact of the project, and testing narrative enquiry as a method of evaluation.
Participants' stories
Jack's story: 'Living in the moment' [Digital story coming soon]
Tony's story: 'Teaching and learning outdoors'
Abbie's story: 'Just that little bit of hope'
Mark's story: 'Something worthwhile'
Rachel's story: 'Connecting to Cumbernauld and its nature'
Matthew's story: 'New skills, new places, new knowledge'
Margaret's story: 'Freeing the trees'
Helen's story: 'The satisfaction of getting a job done'
Joanna's story: 'Not afraid of hard work'
Elizabeth's story: 'A bit of headspace'
Louise's story: 'Learning in the woods'
Frank's story: 'Enlightening experiences'
Sue's story: 'Newfound sense of awareness'
Staff stories
Camilo's story: 'Connecting to nature and people through a sense of wonder'
Aimee's story: 'From volunteer to leader'
Paul's story: 'Personal growth through the Wild Ways Well programme'
Tracy's story: 'Opening eyes to nature'
Trainees' stories
This research is funded by the Scottish Government RESAS Strategic Research Programme (SRP) 2022 – 2027, as part of D4.1 (People and Nature), and by the Heritage Fund. This project is informed by the project RD 1.3.2 'Ecosystem services provision', in the previous SRP 2016-2021.