Abstract
So much of wellbeing derived from woodland activity has an inherently social component. Access to wellbeing was frequently collaboratively constructed with other people—peer and family groups or temporary communities of interest. Such networks were sometimes short-lived or sometimes reinforcements of existing interpersonal relationships, but often formed active conduits towards achievement of personal and social satisfaction and feeling good. Continuing the theme of ‘difference’, within the research, the contrasts that woodland activities and setting present to everyday social environments sometimes significantly influenced positive interpersonal and collective connection. Two case studies from Into the Woods projects with the Forest of Avon Trust explore here how social contact and connection was developed through woodland based activity, describing how young people and adults with learning and physical differences established cohesive relationships with peers, tutors and carers.
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Goodenough, A., Waite, S. (2020). Natural Sources of Social Wellbeing. In: Wellbeing from Woodland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32629-6_6
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