How partnership funding helps us work with healthcare professionals

Spending time in nature has been found to help with mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.

Partnership funding plays a vital role in helping Circle of Life Rediscovery provide nature-based experiences that benefit mental and physical wellbeing. 

In particular, breaking down the barriers children, young people, families and adults who use mental health services face when accessing nature.

We base our nature-based experiences around three aspects of effective nature-based care: immersion in nature, meaningful activity, and social interaction. 

Take a look at some of our most recent partnership funded projects below.

Live Wire Award
Therapeutic Services of the Year Award
Enjoolata Foundation
Community Funded

CAMHS Child & Adolescent & Mental Health Service: Teenagers

With the help of our partners, we’ve run ongoing teenage programmes with CAMHS since 2005. Sessions take place at our stunning Sussex woodland site.

Awards for the project

  • Corporate LiveWire Innovation & Excellence Awards 2023 – Therapeutic Services Provider of the Year 2022/3
  • Corporate LiveWire Innovation & Excellence Awards 2021 – Therapeutic Services Provider of the Year 2021
  • ITV’s People’s Project Winner 2017
  • Environmental Achievement Award at the SPARK Awards 2016
  • 2015 Sussex Partnership Positive Practice Awards
  • Highly Commended in the National Innovation in Child, Adolescent and Young People’s Mental Health Award

For the most part, we organise nature-based activities to promote group discussion. These comprise roasting chestnuts, learning about trees and berries, maintaining the woodland area, and cooking and eating various foods together. Some sessions include a ‘sense meditation’ (using sensory objects as a focus for meditation) or a game.

CAMHS Child & Adolescent & Mental Health Service: Family Days

Since 2009, through funding from Eco-minds, we’ve provided Family Days for young people with mental health issues to spend time with their families in nature. We run this project in partnership with the East Sussex Child and Adolescent and Mental Health Service (CAMHS). 

These days give young people hope that they can have ‘normal’ time, and witness what is possible for them as a family. 

Blowing Bubbles Family Days

Adoption CAMHS

Circle of Life Rediscovery provides tailor-made nature-based therapeutic experiences for teenagers and young adults referred by ADCAMHS, a specialist adoption service.

We work with adopted teenagers and young adults who are experiencing challenges or emotional distress at school or home and struggle to cope with day-to-day life.

We aim to maintain and improve confidence by building secure and meaningful relationships, improving wellbeing, offering opportunities for interaction, understanding responses to others in a different setting and learning from participation.

Teenager Fire Making

“We don’t get out much, I think this is the longest my son has spent outside in living memory. This is phenomenally good. We haven’t had that kind of freedom before, today has given us a different perspective that it is possible.”

CAMHS FISS Family Intensive Support Service: Learning Disability

Your Funding allows us to organise Family Days for families who have children with learning or physical disabilitiesare outdoor learning experts and thought leaders

We run this project in partnership with the Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trusts Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Learning Disability/Family Intensive Support Service (CAMHSLD/FISS).

During our family days, we encourage families to put their worries to one side. Then mingle and laugh, knowing the children’s behaviour is not the focus of attention. We support families with young people to feel safe, move through difficult feelings, find hope and be okay with who they are.

Know that our CAMHS FISS family days are ideal for children who struggle with school routines and schedules. Because being outdoors is proven to boost concentration and helps increase childrens’ engagement at school.

Family Intensive Support Service 3

Dementia Project

Our dementia project is for people with a diagnosis of Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI); mild to moderate dementia and has the following aims:

  • To work in partnership with the person living with dementia, their relatives and carers to support them to achieve their personal goals and priorities
  • To create and provide a person-centred nature intervention programme which addresses equality for all and facilitates positive risk taking, compassion and connection
  • To draw upon the natural environment to provide opportunities for personal restoration, to increase social interaction and general wellbeing and to reduce social isolation and loneliness.

Support us

We could not do the work that we do without the support of a committed group of partners.

Would you like to support us in providing nature-led therapy by becoming a partner?

Find out how we can work together on new and innovative nature-led healthcare projects.

Get in touch to discuss partnership funding opportunities.

Commission a project

Help us achieve better outcomes for children, young people, families and adults who access healthcare services.

Get in touch to talk through your ideas and commission a new project.

Be the first to be notified of expert resources and support for aspiring teachers of outdoor learning

And, keep up to date with useful information about the natural world and our courses.