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

Discovering a passion for creating and crafting using natural ingredients has seen me enjoying the alchemic mix of cooking and science. For the past four years I have been making hand and face creams in my kitchen using local and natural ingredients. This has provided nourishment for the soul and senses. Recently I have been providing hand cream making workshops for local groups. It has been a real pleasure to share my passion with others.

Revisiting the pleasures of knitting and discovering the joy of crochet has led to up-cycling t-shirts into yarn, whittling crochet hooks, helping others learn to crochet.

The process of creating and having a finished object in my hands, often to gift to another, provides a great deal of satisfaction. I find the mindfulness involved in the creating provides respite and restoration from the demands of working as a Counsellor.

Being in, and with, Nature is very important for me in maintaining a sense of balance and connection to myself and the world around me

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.  After three years as a class-teacher in Oxford, she completed a 9-month programme in California in Regenerative Design and Nature Awareness, particularly enjoying learning (a little about) bird language and permaculture design.

Since 2009 she has worked in primary settings creating outdoor learning curriculums.  These have incorporated veg beds, a class restaurant project, cooking with families and working through bushcraft to improve speaking and listening.  Over this time Emma has also worked for The Nature Effect on a variety of projects, currently co-facilitate the Wolf Clan girls’ mentoring group.  She also worked for a year developing a community café at a local Children’s Centre.

Emma is passionate about the power of the outdoors and natural world to engage, ground and inspire children and if she weren’t allowed to play with them outside she would have left the education system some time ago. She also believes deeply in the power of food and cooking to nourish and bring community together.  She also trains in tai chi and Non-violent Communication and brings these principals into her work where she can.

Hannah loves food! She's involved in the perservence and transformation needed to relate to the land through the food we eat. She has recently completed a Schumacher Certificate in Ecological Leadership & Facilitation and a One Year in Transition course. She loves making apple juice, smoothies and butter, as well as making interesting meals out of food that would otherwise go to waste. She tells stories and shares songs of planting, animal care, harvesting, food preparation, cooking and eating. She is also Manager of Good Food Oxford and Treasurer of the East Oxford Farmers' & Community Market.