Bramblewood’s mission statement
(i.e. what we do)
- We provide a welcoming, woodland space, in which people can be themselves and follow their own curiosity and interests.
- We hold consent-based communities which honour people’s differences and rights and which support them with warmth, authenticity and accompaniment.
- We keep as our central focus, people, relationships, community and connection in and with the natural world.
- We tend a small parcel of city woodland, managing it as multiple habitats, preserving wild spaces, and creating places for humans to interact with their other-than-human kin.
Why do we do this?
Because we know that a trusted sense of safety, belonging and dignity are essential for people to thrive in all aspects of their lives. Specifically, they are the necessary foundation for mental wellbeing, executive and relational skills, problem solving and critical thinking.
Because we know too that a sense of belonging comes from being both an autonomous member, and an integrated part, of a community; from being able to say: ‘I am welcome as I am. My voice is heard and it matters to my community, and my community matters to me’.
Because we know that connection to our natural ecosystem can bring with it a deep sense of belonging and accompaniment in the world. It supports our physical, mental and spiritual well being. It can also bring about a relationship with and compassion for the other-than-human inhabitants of the earth and, with that, a greater desire to live more gently and sustainably on our shared planet.
To be an example of how compassionate, healthy and personhood respecting communities can offer people what they need to live and grow in a whole, healthy and authentic way.
Our guiding principles
These guiding principles underpin Bramblewood’s work. They are the starting point from which our practice, policies and procedures stem, and the guidance to which we return when making decisions.
The Community Meeting
To help meet our commitment to our principles, we hold whole-community meetings at the start and end of every session, with special meetings at other times if requested by community members. Our meetings are intentionally structured to counteract the risk of some voices being valued more than others.
The meeting circle is a forum through which everyone can:
- meet with and hear from other members of the community
- make decisions together (e.g. about resources, risk management and environmental impact, agreements for how the members function together as a community)
- formulate plans for the day
- voice what is important to them (a concern, joy, worry, need, etc.)
- seek what they require from the group in order to meet their needs, (for example, a facilitator needing to ensure that everyone has seen the newly-emerged toxic berries, a young person seeking an uninterrupted quiet space for a hammock in the morning, or a safeguarding lead having the opportunity to notice a new way that a young person is presenting)
- question if what is happening in practice is in line with or straying from our guiding principles
- solve problems together
Each meeting will be governed by agreements, made at the outset of the meeting. Then participants will have the opportunity to check-in (express any feelings or needs they feel are relevant), before plans for the day are shared and agreed amongst the community. The meeting concludes with an opportunity for anyone to share anything else they would like, whilst the whole community is in situ (e.g. usage agreements for a resource people have brought with them, or a request for assistance in solving a problem.)
The meeting is chaired by any member of the community who consents to taking the role on that day. Their role simply is to be in service to the meeting. The role of chair does not carry any additional power or function.
Acknowledgements
We are hugely grateful for the wisdom, teachings, accompaniment and love we receive from:
Jo McAndrews at LifeKind, Sophie Christophy, Jon Cree and Kamille Endzins. We are also grateful for the writings and teachings of Peter Gray, Naomi Fisher, Sarah Peyton, Dan Seigel, Looby Macnamara, Jon Young and Stephen Porges to name a few of our influences.
It is through the generously shared wisdom of these people that we have come to understand more deeply both the cultural emergence at Bramblewood and the dominant culture in which we are embedded; and so we have become more intentional. We are now better able to describe and stand for what we do, and why we do it, and better able to support the individuals and communities that thrive at Bramblewood.
Thank you.