The Hampton Trust
ECO Mentoring (The ELM Project)
Due to a generous grant from Natural England, the Isle of Wight has an ECO Therapy Centre for young people where they are able to learn eco for life skills.
Branstone Farm on the Isle of Wight, previously a schools education farm, has taken on a new lease of life as a centre where vulnerable young people are encouraged to take part in range of Eco workshops. The workshops have been designed for them to learn more about the natural resources the island has to offer. Once they have completed the 12 Eco workshops they are able to support community projects right across the island such as building a wildlife sensory garden in a community space in Newport.
As young people join the project they are matched with a volunteer eco-mentor. The role of the mentor is to encourage and support them to take part in a wide range of eco workshops and activities such as pond clearance, bee keeping, building a hedgehog house from willow, and helping survey the island population of red squirrels. A range of other organisations and charities provide support the centre by running eco workshops throughout the year.
Kim Brown CEO of The Hampton Trust said:
‘This is such an exciting programme for the island. Over the years, young people have told us they wanted to learn more about natural resources and how to protect the island for the future. So, we started by piloting some workshops for them and their volunteer mentors and it has grown from there. Natural England are providing the funding for the project and Ecominds has awarded us a grant for the lease of the farm, so both organisations are providing island young people with a real opportunity to interact with the wonderful natural resources the island has to offer and for them to feed back some of their learning to the wider community in turn’.
Heather Whetter, from Natural England said:
‘Natural England’s Access to Nature programme is all about opening up the natural environment to people and we are delighted this project will support vulnerable young people in their development’.
The Trust is currently seeking volunteers who would be interested in being part of the project. They are especially keen to encourage those who have an interest in ecology and wildlife themselves, or want to learn more. Each volunteer will be offered the chance to gain an accredited OCN qualification in Mentoring.
Click here to download our ECO Therapy Centre Leaflet (PDF 485kb)
Click here to download our ECO Mentoring Referral Form (Word 382kb)
Click here to enter any of our ECO related competitons
Contact our Eco Therapy Team on 01983 863299 or email us for more information
