Wellbeing Activities with the Travelling Community

Edinburgh & Lothian Greenspace Trust are working with MECCOP to develop and deliver services that improve the wellbeing of the gypsy/travelling community. Enabling them to develop their own meaningful activities using greenspaces to help them stay fit and well. By providing these opportunities the outcomes achieved will help participants to be more confident and thrive.

Our staff will be working with support workers from MECCOP and the service users to develop the programme that meet the needs for different communities in the Lothians. The programme involves 24 half day taster sessions where the participants can try out different activities in the local greenspaces which would aim to involve at least 10 participants at each site. The types of activities would involve the following.

• Woodland activities – following the same ethos as the award-winning Branching Out programme that has been running since 2010 which is recognised by mental health professionals as delivering successful interventions.  Activities include, woodland crafts, sensory challenges, tree ID, conservation tasks. These would aim to encourage participants to develop friendships, build confidence and boost their mental health and wellbeing.
• Physical activities – involving a range of different activities that are fun and interactive which include walking, jogging, gentle exercise or yoga and meditative workshops. We could offer hula hooping, circus skills and silent discos which would target family groups who do not get out much to explore their local greenspaces. The sessions will enable participants to gradually increase the level of activity while building up the social aspects to help them to bond as a group. Refreshments will be provided at the end of each session which will encourage a more social atmosphere to the events.

At the end of the programme we would evaluate what has worked and look to run more regular programmes as well as signposting people to nearby opportunities.

Woodland Activities

The young people helped build a bird box and their own bird’s nest in Hunters Hall Park. This enabled them to learn about how they can help nature and work as team which builds confidence.