The Nature Effect

Born in the north of England Ally has felt a strong relationship with the land since childhood. Years later whilst training as a psychotherapist on Dartmoor she began to expereince a participatory relationship between our embodied human consciousness and the body of the earth. This direct experience of our deep interconnectedness with the rest of nature transformed the direction of her work and the way she lives her life.  Ally has a background as an artist, and has been engaged in mindfulness practices for 15 years working with groups and individuals. She has worked for many years with people living with serious illness and their families; and in recent years has run nature-centered retreats and workshops around Oxfordshire. 

Through working alongside many women of different ages going through significant life transitions, Ally has begun offering a body of work called Reclaiming the Wise Woman. This is a woman’s journey into the Deep Feminine over 8 sessions through meditation, earth-centred ceremony, Craniosacral Therapy and walking.

For further information see; www.AllyStott.co.uk

A 'Freelancer' since 2011, Annie offers a creative portfolio of services to a diverse range of organisations, and develops new collaborative projects through the Nature Effect CIC.  An accredited Action Learning facilitator and qualified Executive Coach, she works with the public sector, voluntary groups and individuals to develop new projects and pathways for learning and development.  

Examples of recent work include coordinating a project to transform outdoor learning in a children's centre, establishing and project managing a new fund to enable voluntary organisations to undertake research and evaluation projects, faciitating values-based peer groups and providing coaching & mentoring for individual clients and community leaders.  Her approach is to listen, ask good questions, and help her clients to map the territory, clarify their purpose and intention, and find innovative solutions to problems.  She is an Associate of Linden Learning and Learning through Landscapes (www.ltl.org.uk) with whom she offers training and development in early years education and outdoor learning.  Wherever possible, she works with people outdoors and draws her inspiration and resource from the wider ecological world.

Annie has a background in teaching, lecturing and writing in early years and playwork.  She developed leadership skills as Head of a large community centre and by leading an award-winning team within Children's Services for Oxfordshire County Council.  She was strategic lead for the development of Oxfordshire's Children's Centres and also established Forest Schools across the county. She writes and sometimes gives talks on the subjects close to her heart - human development, outdoor learning and nature connection.  She is proud to have been the generator of  the now thriving and established Barracks Lane Community Garden Project (www.barrackslanegarden.org.uk) and author of bestselling textbook "New Playwork". She is a member of the steering group for the national Early Childhood Forum.

She is a mother, stepmother and newly a proud grandmother.  She believes her children are her greatest teachers and her community her greatest support.   Having studied anthropology she has a particular interest in earth-based wisdom, learning from nature and native traditions. She has participated in and facilitated wilderness and nature retreats in a variety of forms and contexts.

Emma qualified as a teacher (primary) in 2004 after previous work in charity and government sectors in the UK and Australia.   Since 2009 she has worked in primary settings creating projects that bring her two passions into the curriculum – the natural world, and food & nutrition.  These have included bushcraft, veg beds, school chickens, a class restaurant project (not cooking the chickens), cooking with families, and finding innovative ways to shift the food culture of a school. 

Over this time Emma has also worked for The Nature Effect on a variety of projects, including co-facilitating the Wolf Clan girls’ mentoring group which ran for three years.  She also worked for a year developing a community café at a local Children’s Centre.

Emma is passionate about the power of the natural world to engage, heal and inspire children. She also believes in a profound connection between people’s relationship with food and with this earth which sustains us; and loves working to harness children’s enthusiasm for cooking to foster nourishment, fun and an experience of belonging. 

Hannah loves food! She shares songs, stories and activites related to the land and producing and processing food from scratch - such as butter making, apple juice, porridge, jam and smoothies. She's also interested in stories of sharing food and the value of community eating. She is Manager of Good Food Oxford, the city's network for healthy, fair and sustainable food.

Helen has had a varied career, successfully spanning primary schools teaching, complementary medicine and administration within the not for profit sector. She was for many years treasurer of the Parasol Project (inclusive play for disabled and non-disabled children www.parasolproject.org.uk) and also for one of the UK's leading and most successful festivals promoting ideas for a sustainable lifestyle and future of the planet.

She worked as a teacher of primary school children for over 10 years in which capacity she also trained as Forest School leader developing sustainable schools activities and supporting outdoor learning. She taught massage as well as anatomy and physiology for 10 years. She was a committee member on the British Massage Therapy Council for two years, developing professional standards for massage. She is also a founder member and Coordinator of Barracks Lane Community Garden Project www.barrackslanegarden.org.uk.