Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds were given an avenue to improve their mental wellbeing by channelling their creativity outdoors during lockdown.

With anxiety, depression and isolation becoming major issues with young people during the coronavirus lockdown, the sessions offered those who otherwise may not have had access to open spaces a chance to connect with nature in a Covid-19 safe environment.

Run by the City of London Corporation open spaces team, the outdoor nature learning scheme takes inner city children out into Epping Forest to learn about orienteering, take on fun art projects or learn about the stone age by building their own shelters in the woodland.

At the height of the pandemic sessions were put on hold, but returned in the summer holidays with smaller class sizes, social distancing and regular hand washing.

Abigail Tinkler, project leader, said: “It’s really designed to reach out to Londoners who may not be accessing the amazing green spaces that are available and getting all those wellbeing benefits from connecting with nature.

“We work through schools as a way of reaching children whose families may not necessarily take them out to green spaces and we also target schools who have a high proportion of children in receipt of pupil premium as an indicator of children who are growing up in poverty.”

During lockdown the focus of the sessions was largely on helping young people cope with the mental strains of the pandemic.

Officials running the programme say a mental health rating toolkit developed by researchers at UCL shows participants’ wellbeing increased by an average of 22 per cent after the sessions.

The toolkit is a simple self-rating visual device, where participants can rate themselves across different aspects of wellbeing – inspiration, alertness, enthusiasm, happiness etc – at the beginning and the end of the sessions.

Abi says the difference in the children's mood and state of mind is noticeable by the end of a session.

“When this one group arrived there was a real mix of behaviour with some children finding it difficult to settle, some showing some signs of anger and frustration”, she explained.

“What was interesting was, as soon as they got involved in the hands on activities that had been set up for them to choose from, their body language completely changed, the motivation levels went up. You could see them smiling, commenting on things they noticed, whether it was a beetle that they had never seen before or a tree they thought needed more water.

“That combination of being in nature, having a focus, and understanding they were making a difference, really helped.”

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