Share Your Story About Nature’s Cure in Time of Need

Help us build a picture of what nature means to people in the North East during difficult times by sharing your story about ‘Nature’s Cure in Time of Need’.

What does nature mean to you during difficult times? Maybe a familiar walk helps you feel grounded during times of uncertainty, or the sound of birdsong brings you peace. Whatever your story of ‘nature’s cure in time of need’, we want to hear it.

During Covid-19 lockdowns, many more people in the UK reported that nature and wildlife felt important to their mental and physical wellbeing. The Notes from a Lockdown Naturalist project showed how nature enthusiasts in the North East felt that nature helped them during this time of uncertainty. Beyond lockdown, nature can provide peace or meaning during difficult times, such as periods of loss or change.

The ‘Nature’s Cure’ project aims to bring together stories about what nature means to people during times of need. The scope is deliberately open. ‘Times of need’ can be any difficult time – it can be a personal experience or a period of collective difficulty, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Nature’ is also open to your interpretation – it can be as specific as a tree in your local park or as broad as a memory or feeling in nature.

We’d like to hear from people from all over the North East. How do you connect with nature during times of need? If you wish, your contribution will be added to the North East Nature Archive’s ‘Nature’s Cure in Time of Need: New Voices for North East Nature’ collection.

How to share your story:

• Submit your story about what connecting with nature during difficult times means to you using the text box below. It can be short or long, personal reflection or creative writing – it’s up to you
• If you wish, you can upload an accompanying image or recording using the upload buttons
• Please provide a location for your story if you would like it to be added to the story map so that others can read your contribution – it will be anonymised before being added to the map

If you wish to have your contribution removed any time after uploading, please contact the Project Archivist at nena.nhsn@newcastle.ac.uk.