Gentleshaw Walks comes to an end

The Gentleshaw walking group has now come to its end. We enjoyed exploring the common over the last eight weeks whilst improving our physical health and mental well-being.

We based the sessions around walking and talking with each other and the ways we can connect with nature to help improve our mental health.

Over the weeks, we included ideas on how to get started with walking outside in our local surroundings and how this can be beneficial during and after times of illness and those difficult periods in our lives. Cont

inuing to maintain our well-being by engaging with nature and our local area in various ways.

For example, we used photography, mindfulness exercises, conversations about the wildlife, trees, plants, etc and delved into the history of the area, with a visit to the old windmill, church, and sandstone quarry, including the old coal mining records of the locality.

These are all ways of facilitating connection with our surroundings to encourage regular engagement in activity, and all can be continued now that the sessions have ended.

Most of our participants attended with a family member to our sessions. They expressed a desire to continue walking with their loved ones going forward. Feedback was that stamina and fitness had improved, along with motivation to use walking in nature as a coping mechanism to improve and maintain their mental health and well-being.

It was also recognised that going into autumn/winter can be a difficult time for our mental health, and we had to be careful not to stop using this coping mechanism.

Photo credit to our Community Associate Colette Mumford