TheNest CIC is a Community Interest Company, set up to provide extra income to support its mutual aid and charitable aims as a ‘Green Social Prescribing’ Service and Initiative. TheNest CIC Vision & Social Mission:
Who we are:
The Nest VCSE is a ‘Voluntary Community Support Enterprise’ that provides a safe and managed rural ‘Green Social Prescribing’ space that supports vulnerable members of the community by delivering ‘free-to- attend’ weekly ‘community connection’ men’s and women’s support groups and ‘safe sharing circles’, bespoke care plans and packages for referred clients from partnered organisations and primary care services such Herts Mind Network and the NHS. Our Vision and Mission:
Our vision - To Empower & Support people and their communities by assisting them in reaching their full potential through Holistic and Complementary Treatments & Therapies and Nature-Based Activities as a part of everyday life. Our mission - To improve the Health and Wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment through Nature-Based and Green Social Prescribing activities in a managed open Rural space. We present a united voice for organisations and groups delivering nature- based and green social prescribing activities. We influence policy makers and work with partners in the voluntary, public, private and academic sectors to improve the health and wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment.
● Provide expert advice, support and a free membership scheme to support communities to grow in sustainable ways. We are proud to support thousands of grass root organisations from small fruit and veg plots on urban housing estates to large-scale rural care farms; transforming lives and connecting people.
● Design and deliver innovative training programmes which empower and enable communities to thrive and grow. We provide practical support and training UK wide to thousands of grass roots organisations and groups.
● Forge pathways for our members to access commissioned services and long term opportunities and to demonstrate that they deliver high quality provision. We promote income generating opportunities for organisations and groups to ensure they can sustain their activities. We
● Promote quality assurance for members to deliver their work with confidence, pride and positive social impact. Improving People's Lives through on-going support, empowerment change and
Reconnection:
Many people assume that community Care Farms and Gardens are just nice places to visit where plants are grown and animals kept. But that is far from the whole picture and overall objectives. Many of them also offer an amazing array of health benefits and opportunities for personal growth, which can include education programmes, play schemes, healthy living initiatives, work and skills training, social enterprises, volunteer opportunities, environmental schemes, horticultural therapy groups, facilities for people with disabilities, specialist support groups for people struggling with ongoing social issues such as:
● Isolation
● Depression
● Substance Mis-use and Dependency
● Loneliness
● Suicidal Idealisation
● Mental Health
● Self Harm
● Addiction
+ Many Others
Climate Change - Our Position:
At TheNest CIC, we believe that man made climate change is a reflection of our separation from the planet that sustains us. “Safely reconnecting individuals and their families with the Community with our Planet”. We believe that the Health and Wellbeing of individuals, communities and the environment are innately linked. This is why sustainability has always been at the very heart of what we do. We support the vital work of our members with information and advice, enabling them to mitigate the impact of climate change through sustainable farming, community care gardening and growing.
● We welcome the campaigning action of other organisations
● We celebrate nature-based activities that benefit the planet
● We promote innovative approaches to farming, gardening and growing –
supporting work that helps to adapt to and mitigate climate change
● We support our members who are leading the way in doing more with less,
●using eco-friendly agricultural methods that support biodiversity, and an ethos that serves the public good. Our History:
For almost Five years now, Kim & River Taylor have been using their own very small privately rented home and back garden that has now become more commonly by a rapidly growing number of members of the public and Hertfordshire residents as "The Nest”. Set in remote and rural village in Wareside, Hertfordshire UK, Kim and River have been holding and delivering weekly ‘FREE-TO-ATTEND’ Men’s 'Safe Sharing & Support Circles' every Wednesday evening at The Nest and also a Women’s 'Sisterhood' Safe Sharing Circles’ every Thursday at the same times, benefiting upwards of 15 people from the local community and members of the public from all generations and walks of life at any one time. During lockdown – after a tussle with the local council and police, and a lengthy discussion at why we felt that the ’Free Community Support Circles’ should continue taking place in a safe, outdoor environment, particularly given the statistics and evidence of rising suicide rates in both men and women across the Country – the organisers managed to officially secure an ‘exempt’ status from authorities and local police from the lockdown rules and were then able to continue offering the Safe Space and Free-To-Attend’ outdoor Support and Sharing circles and also other additional support groups in their small back garden – allowing more and more men and women to feel 'Safe, Seen, Heard and Understood'. Unsurprisingly, the project organisers report of an increased community need during the pandemic for wellbeing and Socially Connecting Support Services and 'Safe Spaces', and for these to be provided in a Natural Outdoors Setting, and that there are now considerably more people wanting to come together to tackle their loneliness, isolation, addictions, depression and suicidal thoughts. Figures in Men's suicide particularly were reflected in the volume of Men wishing to attend the weekly support circles. Cases and referrals from primary care organisations such as the Mind Charity and other care services increased also. As Co-Founder River Ki Taylor explains:
“Everyone who attends our ‘Safe Sharing Circles’ benefits in some way or other. By attending they share their issues and problems in a safe, accepting and non- judgemental environment. When we listen to other people’s real life experiences and stories, it helps immeasurably to understand our own life with more clarity. My wife and I decided to use our home and garden to create the space due to our own personal life experiences, struggles and illness. We feel honoured to be able to now be of service to others – and in a spirit of creating a compassionate community – by using our own life experiences to simply be of service others. "We now have an incredible family and passionate team of experienced therapists, practitioners and councillors as part of The Nest VCSE that are ready and eager to support and help evolve an even bigger, better and more suitable ‘Green Social Prescribing Space’ that will enable us to continue delivering the services to the people, their families and the Community. We now Desperately need more space to grow as a ‘Green Social Prescribing Service & Safe Space' that supports, empowers and encourages ‘Re- Connection’ to it’s people, families and Communities as we attempt to recover from the devastating consequences of Covid-19 and how it has ‘disconnected’ people, their families and communities Globally. The Nest is currently situated in the founders tiny garden, and are struggling to cope now. They are looking to develop their mutual aid and support project to meet identified increased social prescribing, health and personal needs. They are actively engaged in a campaign to secure "Some Land" and required Funding to secure and develop their "Green Social Prescribing and Holistic Community Wellbeing Space & Green Social Prescribing Hub in Rural Hertfordshire, UK. For further info please email River Taylor:
riverkitaylor@gmail.com
YouTube Testimonial and Feedback:
https://youtu.be/UyO3mM2bKHk
‘The Nest during Covid & Lockdowns’ Article Online:
https://civilsocietyconsulting.co.uk/stories-of-togetherness/story-10/
