Ruth Boyle is the CSH Nature Recovery Ranger for Dorset County Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. Here she shares how she has been supporting staff at Dorset County Hospital (DCH) to engage with green spaces over winter to boost wellbeing.
As part of my activities over the autumn and winter months, I developed a Nature Connection for Winter Wellbeing leaflet for staff at the hospital. This came about as part of an opportunity to contribute to a comfort box scheme run by the Education/Library team for staff at the hospital. The boxes are designed to support staff wellbeing, particularly over the winter months when days are shorter. They contain things like jigsaws, colouring books, tea and hot chocolate, and wellbeing resources. I’m embedded with the Sustainability team at DCH and we were asked to contribute some ideas to the project around sustainability.
We got together as a team and came up with the idea of producing a leaflet to help staff get outside and connect with the nature on their doorstep, at their local park, or at the hospital. This is especially important for staff working in clinical settings who may struggle to get outside during daylight hours in winter. We wanted to highlight that wildlife interest continues throughout the colder months. Importantly, we wanted to make the ideas as accessible as possible. We signposted free and low-cost activities and places to visit, including for folks without access to a car. We also used ‘Stepping into Nature’ resources that are dementia friendly.
Highlights from the leaflet – how nature supports wellbeing
- The 5 ways to wellbeing in nature:
- be active and connect with nature
- take notice of the wildness on your doorstep
- give, doing something to support wildlife in your local area
- keep learning, try something new outside.
- activities like birdwatching can encompass all of these
- Links to local initiatives like Nature Buddies, who provide support for people who struggle to access nature alone. Finding ways to break down some of the barriers faced in accessing nature is an important part of the Healthy by Nature project!
- Links to nature-inspired activities developed locally, to foster connection with the natural world.
Things you can do from your doorstep or window
Although winter is a time when nature slows down and things may seem a little quieter, not all wildlife sleeps in winter. Winter provides us with an opportunity to slow down and notice nature. The leaflet highlights some things to look out for over the autumn/winter like colourful lichen, fungi and migratory birds, as well as listening to birdsong. It also encourages reflection around trees in winter, looking for tree silhouettes in the landscape and noticing the space this creates. There is a whole section on rest, inviting us to consider how we might be able to slow down a bit over the winter.
How supporting nature also supports us
We highlight citizen science events like the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, and link to apps like iNaturalist. These apps and events help to gather valuable data on how wildlife and biodiversity are changing in response to climate change and how we can take action for wildlife. Connecting with nature can lead to a greater sense of care for nature, encouraging pro-environmental behaviours, such as taking part in citizen science to record wildlife. Observing or walking in nature supports our own wellbeing.
It feels like a drop in the ocean, but it is hoped that availability of this leaflet, whether physical copies as part of the comfort boxes or digitally on the staff intranet pages, will support staff wellbeing. As a wellbeing coach, I presented it at the last community of practice meeting in November for other wellbeing coaches to signpost staff to use.
It would be great to see resources like these available and adapted for other NHS trusts. Resources like these could be important for patients leaving hospital, ways to make nature connection part of their everyday life and self-care. Here at DCH I am planning to work on a revamped version for spring and summer with things to notice as the seasons change and explore a version with adjoining trusts.
Banner image: Bulb planting in the pride garden at Dorset County Hospital. Photo: Dan Loveard/CSH, 2025. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)