North East England

Supporting migrants and refugees to access nature

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Overview

Asylum seekers and refugees living in urban settings often have few opportunities to interact with the rural environment.  Barriers include lack of knowledge of how to access rural areas, having no money to pay for public transport out of the city, and in some cases concerns about discrimination or 'not fitting in'. 

Researchers at Newcastle University were involved in two projects that supported these groups to benefit from the positive impacts of connection to nature in rural Northumberland. 

Forest Bathing in Kielder

Women refugees living in Newcastle spent a day at Kielder Water and Forest Park, forest bathing. This practice originated in Japan and has been found to yield multiple mental and physical health benefits – even the act of just absorbing the forest is beneficial.

Dr Raphaela Berding-Barwick, a previous PhD student at Newcastle University secured a small grant to take the women into the forest. For some of them, this was the first time they were able to get out of the city – if they are seeking asylum they are not allowed to work and so need to survive on next to no income. Thus income and transport impact on their capacity to access the natural environment.

Raphaela explains what inspired her to set up the scheme, and the benefits from being in the forest:

“I love nature myself – that’s also how my idea came about.  For me when I am super-stressed, I like to hear the birds, hear the wind going through the trees – it’s not the same if you’re just talking to friends in a cafe where it’s busy – it’s a different kind of healing, especially for the community that we work with which is refugees and asylum seekers. And Kielder and the Northumbrian countryside is an important part of the North East that everyone deserves to be able to access.”

Forest Bathing

Walking Together

‘Walking Together’ was a collaborative project with Dr Henna Asikainen, a multi-disciplinary artist of Finnish heritage with a participatory, and socially engaged practice, and Professor Ruth McAreavey of Newcastle University.  The project was funded by Newcastle University and took place in the stunning landscape of Northumberland National Park, including a section of Hadrian’s Wall.

Collaborative and convivial walks were organised to explore barriers for migrant communities living in the city in accessing the countryside. Six walks were held in partnership with Northumberland National Park and CPRE and were followed by debriefing workshops. The final walk, the Future Pasts Performative Protest in 2022, involving a few of the participants and was shown in an exhibition at Gallery North.

The walks and debriefing workshops provided a framework for Henna and Ruth’s research and enabled them to learn more about people’s stories and biographies.  They found that walking with others in nature created a connection for participants between the present and the past; facilitated companionship and rapport; and provided moments of welcoming and hospitality as well as celebration.  This environment helped some participants express themselves more openly and to display emotions.  

For participants, the mood altering impact of the walks was evident:

‘I haven’t felt this happy since I came to England’, Participant 1

‘This trip totally changed my mood’, Participant 2

The migrants from this study were living in Newcastle and had limited interactions with the rural environment, largely because of enforced immobility through inadequate financial resources. Many participants were uncertain about what the countryside is, and what they would find there.  The walks unlocked an opportunity they wouldn't have previously had and provided a supportive environment to try things out:

...when we were travelling, here I was wondering how you can travel to the countryside. If there were buses coming to the countryside, you board a bus, you come to the countryside, you go to maybe one of the towns, you get off, you walk around, you chat. Participant 3

 

Walking Together Image

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