\n The short film features stories from across Scotland and highlights how outdoor programmes have supported individuals in overcoming addiction and mental health challenges.\n<\/p>\n
\n Among those featured is Shona, who credits the outdoors-focused charity Venture Trust, based near Tullibody, with helping her recover from 30 years of alcohol dependence and trauma.\n<\/p>\n
\n Her story is especially moving because she also lives with agoraphobia.\n<\/p>\n
\n Shona said: “I spent three years not leaving the house.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Some days it\u2019s still hard, but I set myself a challenge that I have to be up, dressed and out of the house by 10 o’clock every day.\n<\/p>\n
\n “In recovery, they say to accept a higher power.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Mine is Mother Nature because she\u2019s available to me.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I’m lucky that I have a beach at the bottom of my road and hills at the top.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She now volunteers with Venture Trust and met her best friend Jennifer through the programme.\n<\/p>\n
\n The film explores the value of friendship in the recovery process.\n<\/p>\n
\n The documentary, Green Threads: Weaving Stories of Nature and Recovery, was produced through a University of Stirling-led project and funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jennifer is one year ahead of her in recovery, and while they use different methods to address their trauma and substance use, both women say time outdoors is essential.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jennifer said: “I accessed Venture Trust\u2019s outdoor therapy, which helped me with the trauma of losing my ex-partner in addiction.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I also deal with it through methods like acting and volunteering.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The film will be shown this week at the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy.\n<\/p>\n
\n A screening also took place last week at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Wendy Masterton, senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Stirling, said: “Apart from the physical and social benefits of nature-based programmes, it is clear from our research that these activities bring feelings of purpose and a positive outlook for participants.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It\u2019s powerful to hear their stories on film, and we hope the documentary will be another stepping stone to establishing more nature-based initiatives and showing how effective they can be as an approach to substance use support.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The film has been created as a resource to encourage more people onto nature-based programmes, and to encourage more healthcare professionals and strategic decision makers to buy into them.\n<\/p>\n
\n The documentary will then be shared widely with recovery networks, healthcare professionals and Scottish Government.\n<\/p>\n
\n Attending the film screenings will be programme participants, staff, their friends and families, as well as academics, alcohol and drug partnership representatives, and NHS and third sector practitioners.\n<\/p>\n
\n The success stories back up research from the University of Stirling which has evidenced why these types of programmes appear to work for poor mental health and substance dependence.\n<\/p>\n
\n The screening events follow the launch last month of University of Stirling-developed manuals to help health and social care providers design and deliver nature-based programmes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The short film features stories from across Scotland and highlights how outdoor programmes have supported individuals in overcoming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-178170","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178170","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178170"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178170\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}