All my life, I have had a wonderfully intimate relationship with nature.

From bees to oceans, trees to mountains; everything is precious.

In nature, there is no judgement, expectation or comparison.

In nature, I am free to be me.

Our natural world can have extraordinarily powerful health effects on our bodies and minds, fostering a healthy lifestyle, calm mind and deep social connection.

To continue feeling the healing power of nature, we must look after it; but we know that is currently under threat. Our relationship with nature must be reciprocal, as we each develop a meaningful, personal connection with the natural world. For me, an aspect of this means being a green leader and using my voice in the workplace to advocate on behalf of nature, which has no voice.

I am a Care Practitioner for Learning Disability; having also taken on the voluntary role of Sustainability Champion in my Trust. After finding my feet in this role, I soon noticed that pockets of nature-based practice were taking place in different corners of the trust but with little protected space for collaboration, particularly that which was accessible to all staff.

I pondered what to do and began by simply bringing people together. I created the ‘Sustainability Working Group’ (SWG); a space for colleagues to share ideas, gain knowledge and get support to take sustainable action and connect with nature in the workplace.

Many colleagues expressed that they had limited knowledge, time and confidence which prevented them from taking action. After attending a course on sustainable mental healthcare, the idea came to me; an initiative focused on ‘Nurturing Nature in the NHS.’

Having learned the power of co-production in healthcare services, I co-facilitated a webinar series which emphasised the experiences of guest speakers and people with personal experience such as those with mental health difficulties or autism who had found value in connecting with nature. The aim was to provide an educational tool for colleagues to understand and improve their connection with self, others and nature, focusing on bringing nature connection into the workplace to improve staff, client and planetary wellbeing. Feedback from these events allowed me to better understand the barriers colleagues faced in connecting with nature in the NHS and led to the development of a quality improvement project aimed at restoring and nurturing our connection. This includes projects such as staff away days, an eLearning course on connecting with nature and a ‘Green time B4 screen time’ campaign to encourage regular breaks outside.

Along the way I experienced many emotions when thinking about nature connectedness and the lack of it in our healthcare system. Over the years I have felt a devastating sense of grief, overwhelming anxiety and extreme anger relating to the climate and ecological crises and the part we as humans have played. To me, these crises are the biggest loss our species and many other species have ever faced. It is a strange thing to grieve for something you have never had. The depth of my anxiety and pain felt like a boulder in my pocket getting ever heavier. There were times where I was so overwhelmed that I could not get out of bed.

So, what changed I hear you ask? I suppose it was many factors, some of which I may not be conscious of. For now, I know that I have the NHS to thank. Without the platform it has provided for me to lead, make connections and inspire people with my passion, I would likely still be stuck in my bed not wanting to face the gravity of my despair. I must also give credit to the underlying deep knowing that I have always possessed that drives me to action; I could not live with myself if I did nothing. So, I had to do something.

With an understanding and acceptance of my fluctuating emotions, I realised that in the workplace I could create endless opportunities to have an impact bigger than myself. There are of course many barriers to advocating for nature connection and sustainable practices in the NHS. Barriers, however, can be overcome if we shout loud enough, persist long enough, and crucially, if we work collectively. This work is existential, and it is all of ours to do.

For me a crucial part of overcoming some of these barriers involved allowing my values to guide me. The ‘how’ was the hard part. How do I lead others in a meaningful way without instilling fear or hopelessness in them? As I have learned throughout my working life, being authentic and telling my story is one of the most impactful things I can do as a leader. No statistic or fact is as engaging as our own stories. Using our feelings as a power to effect change and allowing a sense of vulnerability in our experiences. Leaning into our strengths and being mindful of weakness was another crucial element.  As someone who identifies as neurodiverse, I was aware of characteristics that may impact my leadership, such as interrupting myself, talking in tangents and struggling to sit with silence. Understanding myself helped me attune to people’s needs, consider reasonable adjustments and reduce self-criticism. After all, to truly lead, we must always start with self.

Since the creation of the SWG and ongoing Nurturing Nature in the NHS efforts, several colleagues have taken on leadership roles, such as becoming sustainability champions or hosting nature-based away days. Many have expressed motivation to improve client and colleague wellbeing through nature connectedness. Although our sustainability team is small and under-resourced, we must make leadership in nature-based and sustainable practices a priority, encouraging protected space for these topics in our working routines.

Thinking to the future, I am keen to maintain ‘Green Leader’ momentum. Although individual leadership plays an important role for driving change, we are all responsible for our world. We must aspire for collective leadership and collective change. I invite you consider how you can become a greener leader to transform healthcare practices into healthy, connected, sustainable services that will benefit us all, including the natural world that sustains all our lives.

Author

Isabella Fisk

Isabella is a Transforming Care Practitioner for Learning Disability and Autism in Somerset NHS Foundation Trust where she has worked for the past two years (previously as an Assistant Psychologist). During both roles she had the additional voluntary position of Sustainability Champion, which allows her to consistently bring her passion for nature, wellbeing and sustainable practices into the workplace. She studied psychology (University of Exeter) and forensic psychology (University of Bath), and is now undertaking an Ecopsychology qualification with the Natural Academy to bring together her training and passion, learning how to apply this to her workplace.

Declaration of interests:

I have read and understood the BMJ Group policy on declaration of interests and declare the following interests: none.