Charlotte is the Nature Recovery Ranger at NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group for the Healthy by Nature project, which is funded by the National Lottery Community Fund.
My background is in community engagement, wellbeing and practical land-based work. Most recently, I worked as an education and wellbeing specialist for a sexual health charity, facilitating sessions with young people, families and professionals on a range of complex topics. Previously, I’ve worked in community gardening and volunteer management roles, developing projects that support people to engage with nature in inclusive and accessible ways.
Although I trained in formal horticulture, I have always been most interested in creating community-led spaces where people feel valued and supported. I am drawn to work that addresses big systemic issues in practical, hands-on ways.
I was drawn to this role because it offers an opportunity to be really holistic in how we approach both nature recovery and human health and wellbeing. I was especially excited to work for the Centre for Sustainable Healthcare (CSH), as they understand that human and planetary health are intrinsically interdependent, and it is only by acknowledging the symbiotic nature of this relationship that we will be able to create lasting, beneficial change for all living beings.
I’m interested in how NHS sites can support not just treatment, but also prevention, recovery and overall wellbeing. Human health is directly impacted by the health of the surrounding environment. As Nature Recovery Ranger, my job is to improve the biodiversity of the trust’s green spaces for the benefit of local wildlife, which in turn has a massive positive impact on staff, patient and visitor wellbeing. There are innumerable studies which evidence the positive impact nature connection – even passive engagement – can have on multiple health outcomes including reduced recovery times, shorter hospital stays, improved immune system function, lowered inflammation in the body, improved sleep, mood and mental wellbeing (just a few among a long list of other benefits!)*
The trust’s commitment to sustainability, alongside its role as an anchor institution within Liverpool, makes it an exciting place to develop this work – creating spaces that have the potential to address a whole variety of health concerns for a large and diverse population by supporting the wider living environment. It’s a dream job!
My special area of interest is nature connection through creative practice. I have been fortunate to receive Arts Council funding to lead “nature connection through movement” sessions. I see creativity as a powerful tool for connection: it can help people relate more deeply to themselves, to others, and to the environment around them. Much like direct experiences in nature, creative practices can have a profoundly positive impact on wellbeing; supporting relaxation, self-expression, relationship building and a sense of belonging. I am especially interested in how creativity and storytelling can provide an entry point for people to engage with big and often overwhelming environmental issues, namely the climate emergency and associated crises.
The variety of the work rangers get involved with is huge – facilitating practical conservation sessions, designing and facilitating wellbeing in nature workshops, connecting with local wildlife and wellbeing charities, exploring opportunities to collaborate with NHS staff who are integrating nature-based activities into their work with patients, identifying opportunities to improve habitats on site and much more besides.
I am really enjoying how positive and enthusiastic everyone is about the role of the Nature Recovery Rangers. This is especially the case at NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group as the trust has been working with CSH since 2021, with a ranger on site for the last five years. This long-term engagement has really helped raise people’s awareness of the ranger role and the positive contributions the role can make to the trust’s green spaces and stakeholders.
Of course, Bluebell Woods (situated on the Aintree Hospital site) is an amazing place to visit. I have been especially fortunate as, starting in spring means the woods are brimming with wildflowers. The bluebells came into bloom not long after I started and they, along with garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), wild garlic (Allium ursinum), lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) and red campion (Silene dioica) are prolific throughout the woods. There is a real diversity of wildflowers in the woodland and this is due, in part, to the sustained dedication of The Friends of Bluebell Woods volunteering group, with guidance and facilitation from the previous rangers, Nick and Fiona.
Each of the sites offer something special and completely different in terms of green spaces. At Broadgreen we have Highfield Community Garden, developed by my predecessors in association with The Conservation Volunteers and other committed community groups. The Royal Hospital has beautiful courtyard gardens immaculately maintained by a small but committed team of gardeners. Aintree Hospital has the largest green space of all three sites. Thousands of bulbs and hundreds of trees have already been planted on site and I am looking forward to identifying further areas for us to plant out over next winter.
Although I have a lot of ideas I am really excited about, I am equally excited that my role offers me the time and resources to help facilitate and enable the passion projects of other people too. This is especially true when working alongside clinical staff who often have brilliant ideas for green and blue prescribing initiatives, but don’t have the time to develop and deliver them for their patients. These collaborations are especially satisfying as clinicians bring essential clinical insights and I can add my conservation, nature connection and outdoor facilitation skills into the mix.
Over the next year, I am keen to create more opportunities for staff, patients and visitors to access and benefit from the trust’s green spaces. One way I plan to do this is by developing a wellbeing in the woods programme based on the University of Derby’s Five Pathways to Nature Connection and the NHS’s guide of Five Ways to Wellbeing.
I am mindful of sustaining links between long-established, community-led conservation organisations who can play a vital role in supporting the long-term protection of our precious green spaces. I am also looking forward to more practical projects, especially to revamping our therapy garden at Broadgreen so that it offers a welcoming, safe, immersive and useful space for clinicians supporting patients in rehabilitation and recovery.
To get in touch with Charlotte, email charlotte.elvin@sustainablehealthcare.org.uk
*(Ulrich, 1984), (Li, 2008; Tsunetsugu et al., 2010), (Morita et al., 2007)
Banner image: Charlotte in Bluebell Woods. Photo: NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group, 2026.