Since it's founding in 1997, the CYC-Net discussion group has been asked thousands of questions. These questions often generate many replies from people in all spheres of the Child and Youth Care profession and contain personal experiences, viewpoints, as well as recommended resources.
Below are some of the threads of discussions on varying Child and Youth Care related topics.
Questions and Responses have been reproduced verbatim.
Listen to thisHello,
I have become very interested in the approaches used in Forest School in the past few months, and am looking into incorporating them into my Child and Youth Care practice, or even develop a program. I was wondering if you yourself or a colleague/program you know use nature-based interventions. If so, could you direct me to the resources you use, or websights/articles I could look at. Or, perhaps, you could give a brief explanation of the program/intervention and what you find works the best.
Thank you very much in advance.
Anya Bystrova
Canada
...
This is an article by James Freeman on the subject. It was published in CYC-Online in June 2014 – Eds.
https://www.cyc-net.org/CYC-Online
/jun2014.pdf#page=30
...
I am unfortunately not as current on that lit or practice as I should be. I would ask Veronica Pacini Ketchabaw at U Vic.
Best,
Hans Skott-Myhre
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Hello Anya
Fantastic news!
Mavis (mlewis-webber@RRC.CA) and Ruth (rlindseyarmstrong@RRC.CA)are very knowledgeable on forest School. Mavis recently went to a conference in Europe to learn more about this approach. Currently Mavis is away, however I’m sure she will respond to your email.
Take care
Susan Claire Johnson
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Hello Anna,
Take a look at the work we have been doing through Common World Childhoods Research Collective: http://commonworlds.net I have written an article on forest pedagogies and settler colonialism that is published in Global Studies of Childhood: http://gsc.sagepub.com/content/3/4/355.abstract
You can find other references in the Common World Childhoods website.
Feel free to email me if you'd like me to send you any of the articles.
Best,
Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw
...
Hello Anna,
A wonderful topic that you are interested in. There is a book called The Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature Deficit Disorder by Richard Louv that you might find interesting. Richard Louv is a renowned journalist and naturalist who wrote this book because he was concerned about the physical and psychological impact on children when they experience little or no opportunities to play or be immersed in nature or natural surroundings. It is a great read, well researched and offers some interesting insights into the mental health benefits of involving children in outdoor education and play.
All the best,
Delphine Amer
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Hi Anna,
I'm going into my 3rd year Child and Youth Care at Vancouver Island University and just last year we implemented a new class, nature-based interventions / or "activity-based", if you’re able to I would try contacting Stephen Javorksi at VIU. He is a Child and Youth Care instructor there who specializes in nature-based interventions, he has deep knowledge on the subject and has an array of resources! For our course material we used PROJECT ADVENTURE, if you get a membership you have access to tons of readings and activities; it's amazing! Put it into Google! Hope you get some info. It's pretty neat stuff...
Cheers!
Alise McKenzie
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Hi guys,
I can heartily recommend the expertise of the coordinators of these services at Camphill Schools Aberdeen, Scotland.
http://www.camphillschools.org.uk/current-services/st-andrews-project
also
http://www.camphillschools.org.uk/current-services/amber-kindergarten
and
http://www.camphillschools.org.uk/current-services/nature-nurture-project
http://www.edutalk.info/terri-harrison-on-nature-nurture-at-camphill/ – a presentation on the project
Here is an evaluation of the St Andrew’s Project. Chris Walter, the author, would be a good contact person to start with.
http://www.celcis.org/media/resources/publications/2013_vol12_no2_walter_outcomesthatmatter.pdf
http://www.edutalk.info/chris-walter-and-manuela-costa-of-camphill-sc/ – a presentation on the project
http://www.camphillschools.org.uk/page/contact-us – contact page for Camphill
Cheers,
Jeremy Millar
