Wild Mind Well-Being

28/11/2025

A wonderful place with wonderful people! Pop in and say hi to them 😁

21/11/2025

Howling 🎶

18/11/2025

More workshop creations, a hay delivery, and practicing our decorating skills

18/11/2025

Tink keeping warm

18/11/2025

Staying Warm on the Farm This Week

The cold weather has finally arrived and the farm has definitely noticed it. When our bodies get cold, we use more energy to keep ourselves warm, which can make us tired more quickly and less able to focus. For some of our students, especially those who are autistic, sensory seeking, or managing anxiety, feeling cold can also make the day feel harder to handle. Layering up helps your nervous system stay steady so you can enjoy the animals, the activities, and the fresh air without discomfort.

A few reminders to help you stay warm and comfortable during sessions:

Base layers first
A thermal top and leggings make a huge difference. They help your body keep its own heat in and stop that cold wind from getting underneath your clothes.

A waterproof layer
Even when it isn’t raining, waterproofs protect you from wind and keep your clothes dry if you’re doing jobs in damp areas. Dry = warm.

Footwear matters
Wellies for deep mud and paddocks.
Steel toe capped boots for the rest of the day around animals, tools and construction areas.
If your feet are cold, the rest of you will feel cold too.

Socks and more socks
Two thinner pairs are often warmer than one thick pair because they trap warm air between them. Wool or thermal if you have them.

Hat
You lose a surprising amount of heat through your head. A simple beanie helps keep your whole body warmer.

Fingerless gloves
Perfect for keeping hands warm while still being able to clip leads, hold tools, or complete animal care tasks.

We want you to enjoy your sessions, feel safe, and stay warm enough to focus, learn, and have a good time with the animals. If you’re ever unsure what to wear, just ask your coach before your session and we’ll help you get sorted.

16/11/2025

At Wild Minds Alternative Provision we use a therapeutic and relational approach across all of our work with young people. Many of the resources, programmes and psychoeducational tools used in our sessions are developed by our sister service, Wild Minds Pro™ (Therapy and Coaching).

Wild Minds Pro provides evidence informed therapy, coaching and emotional education for young people, families and professionals. Their resources support emotional regulation, executive functioning, anxiety, ADHD, autism and wider mental health needs. These tools help strengthen the therapeutic foundations of our alternative provision and ensure our students receive consistent, high quality support.

We are proud to be part of the wider Wild Mind Well-Being™ umbrella, where therapeutic practice, education and nature based interventions come together to support young people in a safe, nurturing environment.

You can learn more about Wild Minds Pro at www.wildminds.pro.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AdocUkfZT/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Most young people can tell you they feel “fine”, “stressed”, or “angry”, but very few can say what’s really happening underneath.

At Wild Minds Pro we teach that emotions and feelings are not the same thing. This often surprises people, but it makes a real difference to emotional regulation.

Emotions are the body’s automatic responses to what is happening around us. They are fast and biological.
Feelings are the thoughts, interpretations, and personal meaning we attach to those emotional states.

When a young person says they feel “angry”, the emotion underneath might actually be fear, embarrassment, overwhelm or sadness. If they only have one word for many internal states, it becomes much harder for them to regulate, communicate or ask for support.

This is why we use the Wild Minds Wheel of Emotions. It gives young people a wider emotional vocabulary and helps them recognise what is really going on in their body before the feeling or behaviour takes over. Research shows that accurately naming an emotion helps settle the nervous system and gives the thinking brain a chance to come back online. For neurodivergent young people, this is especially important because emotional signals can feel bigger, faster and more confusing.

Over the next few weeks we will be sharing simple, accessible psychoeducation to help families, schools and professionals understand emotional development, executive functioning and regulation. These foundations sit at the heart of all the work we do with children and young people.

If you’d like to follow along, we’ll start with the basics: what emotions are, how they work in the body, and why identifying them is the first step towards feeling more in control.

16/11/2025

This week at Wild Minds our students have been creating their own Christmas trees from scrap wood. Nothing wasted at all. The circles we cut out to make the decorations actually became the tree bases, which the students loved because it showed how every part of a project can have a purpose. Next week they’ll be hanging tiny baubles through the cutouts, turning each piece into something completely unique.

Projects like this do more than build practical skills. They support executive functioning in a really natural way. When a young person plans the shape, measures the wood, thinks ahead to where the holes need to go, and sequences each step, they’re practising the very skills that many students with ADHD find harder in everyday life. The structure of a hands-on task gives their brain something solid to anchor to, reducing overwhelm and helping them experience success.

There’s also something regulating about using our hands with natural materials. The rhythm of sanding and painting, the sensory feedback from wood, and the satisfaction of seeing a clear end result all help the nervous system settle. For neurodivergent students, this kind of grounding is often far more accessible than traditional classroom tasks.

Our aim is always the same: nurture confidence, build skills gently, and create a space where young people feel capable, safe and connected. The Christmas trees will look beautiful, but it’s the process that matters most.

12/11/2025

A big thank you to Oliver Gilchrist for being wonderful with Athena. She had the farrier out today for a trim and re shoeing. He was very relaxed and kind with her & she was a good girl 😇 https://www.facebook.com/share/1BjyXviqAL/?mibextid=wwXIfr

11/11/2025

💛 In Loving Memory of Billy the Goat 💛

Today we said goodbye to one of our very first residents, our Billy.

So many people who’ve visited Wild Minds will have their own stories of being chased, nudged, or butted by Billy. He was a real character who made everyone laugh, but he also taught many people important lessons about body language, boundaries and respect.

In recent months, Billy lived up on the main yard where he loved greeting everyone and sharing lunches. True to form, he enjoyed his favourite treats today, a banana and some cheese and onion crisps, before peacefully passing, surrounded by love.

Thank you to our amazing team and students for making his last day so special and comfortable.

Billy, you’ll always be part of Wild Minds, and we’ll miss you dearly. 💛🐐

If you’ve met Billy over the years, we’d love for you to share your favourite memories or photos of him in the comments.

Rest well Billy 💙

💛

🌈

07/11/2025

The 90-Second Rule: Understanding How Emotions Work in the Body

We often think of emotions as something that can sweep over us and stay for hours, but in reality, our bodies are designed to process emotional reactions much more quickly. When an emotion is triggered, the brain releases a wave of chemicals such as adrenaline and cortisol that surge through the body to prepare us for action.

This physical response doesn’t last long. In fact, the chemical effects of an emotional reaction typically fade within about 90 seconds once the body has done its job. After that, whether the feeling lingers depends largely on what happens in the mind. When we replay the event, analyse it, or tell ourselves stories about it, we restart the emotional loop and the body releases another wave of the same chemicals.

That’s why some emotions seem to stick around all day, not because the original feeling hasn’t passed, but because our thoughts keep fuelling it.

The good news is that this means we have power over how long an emotion lasts. By pausing, noticing what’s happening, and focusing on steady breathing, we can help the body complete its natural cycle and return to balance. This doesn’t mean ignoring emotions or pushing them away; it means allowing them to pass through rather than getting caught in the storm.

At Wild Minds, we teach young people and adults to see emotions as waves: they rise, peak, and fall. When we stop fighting the wave and learn to ride it calmly, we discover that even the strongest feelings can move through us safely.

💚 Nurturing through Nature

02/11/2025

You may have seen in the media that some young wolfdogs recently escaped. Natalie has written an excellent post highlighting the needs of these wonderful animals and why wolfdog ownership is not to be taken lightly. 

Higher content wolfdogs:
They've hit the news recently, with a trio of youngsters found loose roaming. But what are they, and do they make good pets?
While there are lots of dog breeds which look a bit like wolves, or have a small amount of recent wolf ancestry, the higher content wolfdog is little different. But what is it? Well, essentially, it 'does what it says on the tin' - it's an animal with a very high percentage of wolf in its recent ancestry. Generally at our sanctuary, when animals contain a lot more wolf than domestic dog genes, we classify them as 'higher content' or 'virtual wolves'. Although legally they're classified as domestic, and this means they can legally be bred and sold just like dogs ( and unfortunately exploited by cash breeders too) , they DO NOT make good pets. They need lots of space, and a peaceful life. They are smart but independent and creative. Their favourite game is chewing - and they can get through a sofa in 10 minutes! They can easily jump over 6ft fences, so zoo style fencing is a must. And they howl - not great if you have immediate neighbours!
Is there a risk of them becoming the next status dog? ABSOLUTELY NOT. Even if people are tempted by their strength and beauty, their sensitive wild nature makes them difficult to train and socialise - they often hide away from strangers, so a person hoping to show them off would be left sorely disappointed! Does this mean people don't try? Of course they do! But the sad result is usually young animals abandoned, anxious and traumatised, rather than causing a 'dangerous dog' problem.
People who own them successfully have spent years learning natural canine behaviour and force free, cooperative training methods. They have committed time and money into making sure they have the right facilities and expensive diets and vet care. And they've said goodbye to all those holidays and days out with friends and family - because there's not a regular petsitter or kennel that can cater to them!
So you think you want a 'virtual wolf'? Think again! Check out the many wonderful natural dog breeds and low wolf content types out there instead. And please support specialist sanctuaries like ours, who may be the only refuge for the animals that have been victims of someone's fantasy whim to have a wolf on their sofa!
If you love wolves, please consider a donation to our sanctuary:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/project-wolfheart