Join us: New nature connection and gardening project

Through running our Walk and Talk project over the last year, we have found that spending time in nature can improve our mental health. Through increased positive feelings of wellbeing, in turn we can help our natural environment thrive. Therefore, we’re delighted to announce that we will be opening a new project based around nature connection and gardening, giving you a chance to learn from your environment, grow food and find wellbeing outside.

When is this taking place?

Every Tuesday from 17th May
Running from 10.30am – 1.30pm
All equipment will be provided
We will be running our project, Keep Going Keep Growing at various sites in Bristol, mainly at the Wellspring Settlement in Barton Hill and Boiling Wells in St Werburghs

Anything else you need to know?

• No referral or formal diagnosis required
• Adults only – you need to be over 18 to attend
• Advance booking needed – details & session location will be shared in advance
• Free to attend you don’t need to pay anything

What will we be doing?

We will combine nature connection and wellbeing practices, mindfulness, creative craftwork with gardening and growing food. Sessions will be based around the 5 pathways to nature connection:

1. Contact
The act of engaging with nature through the senses for pleasure e.g. listening to birdsong, smelling wild flowers, watching the sunset.

2. Beauty
Engagement with the aesthetic qualities of nature, e.g. appreciating natural scenery or engaging with nature through the arts.

3. Meaning
Using nature or natural symbolism (e.g. language and metaphors) to represent an idea, thinking about the meaning of nature and signs of nature, e.g. the first swallow of summer.

4. Emotion
An emotional bond with, and love for nature e.g. talking about, and reflecting on your feelings about nature.

5. Compassion
Extending the self to include nature, leading to a moral and ethical concern for nature e.g. making ethical product choices, being concerned with animal welfare.

We will combine these pathways together with the 5 ways to wellbeing, find out more about this set of ideas to make improvements on your life here.

Through connecting with nature, some benefits to your wellbeing may include reducing stress, improving creativity, reducing anxiety, better sleep, growing food, learning simple wellbeing practices and connecting with others.

Keep Going Keep Growing will be run by our Project Workers, Jen Witts and Charlie Baxter.

Email – growing@changesbristol.org

Telephone – 0141 536 0920

You may have seen Jen at one of our peer support groups. As well as running meetings, she also has many years experience facilitating groups outside, focussed on promoting wellbeing and connecting with nature. Jen believes passionately in the ability of nature to transform our connection to ourselves, our land and our communities in a physical, emotional and spiritual sense. She’s looking forward to exploring all of the ways to connect together and with nature with this group!

Bristol Befriending Week – 25th – 30th April

It has been two years since we started our telephone befriending service with the expectation of helping 20-25 people during lockdown. Since those naïve days this service has grown and grown, to date supporting 164 individuals (3322 befriending hours). Of this number, 109 members no longer require this service and are able to support their mental wellbeing independently or through attending Changes Bristol peer support groups.

Befriending is a free one-to-one service which is available to anyone who lives in Bristol, contact befriending@changesbristol.org to find out more.

Join our new campaign launching from the 25th – 30th April – Bristol Befriending Week. During this time we will be celebrating friendship, community and connecting with others.

A friendship that has meant a lot to you

We’ve been asking some of our friends to tell us their stories about a connection that has meant a lot to them. This could be a family member, friend or someone that they hardly know. You might recognise some of the faces on our video, we’ve been speaking to all sorts of Bristolians including Donna Speed, CEO of We The Curious; Prince Taylor, Trustee at the Arnolfini; Councillor Lorraine Francis, of Eastville ward; Joanna Holmes, CEO of the Wellspring Settlement and George Friend, digital creator and fashion influencer. We’re asking everyone to take a moment to think about a connection that has meant a lot to them.

Changes Bristol social event

The team at Changes will be running a social event on Friday 29th April from 12pm – 5pm at Eastville Park. This is free to attend and we will have some snacks and drinks available which have been donated by Asda Patchway but we recommend bringing your own lunch and a bottle of water. If you prefer to sit on a blanket rather than the grass, please bring one along as well as any games – we’re hoping to get a couple of teams for a rounders tournament. 

We will have our Changes Bristol gazebo set up on the top field in front of the basketball court, so you should find us there. 

Mental Health resources across our community

We recognise that most people would use a range of services to improve their mental wellbeing and make positive changes to their lives. We’ve added a list of charities and community groups in and around Bristol, as well as nationwide. 

Exhibition on Nature

We are enjoying the awesome power of nature through a series of photography walks. Here we celebrate our photographers talents with a gallery exhibiting their incredible images. These will be added to as the series continues, to view the seasonal transformation within this gallery space.

If you’re a Changes Bristol member and would like to connect with nature and find out more about our free photography walks, please contact befriending@changesbristol.org

Spring Photography Walk

Alessandra

Hannah

Lindsey

Shona

Meg

Join us – International Women’s Day online event

The 8th of March is International Women’s Day! 

We will be marking the occasion by holding an International Women’s Day peer support workshop, available for anyone who is over 18 and identifies as women. During the workshop, there will be a short talk on how peer support works and why it is so powerful to create safe spaces for women to share and empower one another, followed by an interactive discussion and creative writing activities based around women’s mental health and wellbeing. 

If you’re a Changes Bristol member, why not bring a friend along to learn more about our groups? 

Key Details

When – Tuesday 8th March
Time – 10am – 12pm
Where – held online via Zoom – contact us for the link

This is a FREE online event for anyone who identifies as a woman. If you’d like to join us, please email service@changesbristol.org for the Zoom link. 

Photography Walk

Join us for a lovely walk around the tranquil Snuff Mills, bring along your phone or camera to take some snaps of the natural beauty around you. This is the winter edition to our free photography walks, celebrating the end of this season and arrival of spring.

We will be joined again by our wonderful photography volunteer, Shona; who will be able to give you some support, guidance and advice on capturing your images. We will be looking at light, contrast, reflections, colours and textures as we take photographs on our peaceful walk along the riverside. Book a place now to connect with others, learn some new photography skills guided by one of our creative volunteers and share ideas and thoughts with other members.

If you’re interested in joining, please email – befriending@changesbristol.org to book your place.

LGBTQI+ Creative Writing Project

LGBT History Month is running throughout February, this year’s theme “The Arc is Long” is inspired by a Martin Luther King quote: ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice. ‘ To celebrate this important month, join us and get involved with a creative writing project running all month.

We’re asking for pieces of writing to be sent in throughout February, these can be in any form that you wish, be it storytelling, poetry, spoken word or song lyrics. Your chosen words can be original or works from other artists / authors. We’re looking for pieces to be submitted that celebrate LGBT History Month, here are a few topic suggestions to think about – gender, identity, discrimination, history and community.

Entries will be open for submission until Friday 25th February, please send these here – changeswords@changesbristol.org

We are planning to hold an in-person social and reading in Bristol in early March, details TBC. You are welcome to share your creative writing pieces at this event, or a member of the Changes Bristol team would be happy to read / speak on your behalf. This is an opportunity for a safe, inclusive space to speak freely and without judgement. 

LGBTQI+ Creative Writing Workshop

If you’re interested in submitting a piece of creative writing for this project, but don’t know where to start, join our Writing Workshop. Our friends at Word by Word Collective will be running a free writing workshop to support, excite and inspire you for a piece celebrating LGBT History Month. 

We will be including the Writing Workshop link on our Friday member email on the 11th February. You can also join if you aren’t a Changes Bristol member, please just email changeswords@changesbristol.org for the link. 

Entering your Creative Writing

To enter, please send a copy of your piece of writing to: changeswords@changesbristol.org .

Alternatively, for postal submission please send a copy of your piece of writing with your contact details attached to Changes Bristol, Barton Hill Settlement, 41-43 Ducie Road, Bristol, BS5 0AX.

If you are unable to write your piece down, but able to speak it aloud instead, please do not hesitate to contact our team on 0141 536 0920. We will be more than happy to help you submit your work.

If you have any questions, please contact alex@changesbristol.org

We’re so excited to read your pieces and for you to be involved!

New year, new you?

Refresh your wardrobe and create a new look for yourself. Bring along any unwanted clothes and accessories and find something new to add to your collection!

When: Saturday 19th February
Where: Strange Brew – 10-12 Fairfax St, Bristol BS1 3DB
How much: £5 entry (all proceeds help Changes Bristol fund mental health services)

How does a clothes swap work?

• Come along to Strange Brew with your unwanted garments anytime from 12pm – 3pm
• Pay your £5 entry fee (all goes to Changes Bristol). Exchange your garments for tokens which you will be able to swap for new clothes!
• From 1pm – 4pm you will be able to peruse around and find some lovely new clothes in exchange for your tokens
• We have all afternoon, so relax and grab a drink while you’re choosing your new look

Questions? Email fundraise@changesbristol.org or ring 0141 536 0920.

Messages of Gratitude

This year we were proud to be nominated as chosen partner charity with St Mary Redcliffe for Treefest. This 4-day event celebrated both the festive season and the local community, with and exhibition of 50 Christmas trees donated by Bristol based organisations, charities and community groups. The church had over 2,000 people in attendance over the 4-day event with entertainment from a variety of choirs.

Ours was a Gratitude Tree, which offered an opportunity for people to share what they’re grateful for and get involved with dressing our tree by adding messages of thanks as decoration. We were delighted to see so many people of all ages get involved and wanted to use this space to celebrate the messages added. Huge thank you to everyone who came along to Treefest and shared what they’re grateful for.

Join us and at Treefest

We are proud to announce that Treefest, annual Christmas celebration at St Mary Redcliffe, have asked Changes Bristol to be their partner charity for the 2021 event.

Treefest is a spectacular festive display of Christmas trees held within the splendid gothic church of St Mary Redcliffe. The festival is a celebration of the diversity of creative talent in Bristol and a chance to learn more about the organisations / businesses / groups behind the trees plus an opportunity to support two of the charities via making donations to help support their work.

When: Thursday 2nd – Sunday 5th December
Event day: Saturday 4th December, come along and help us to decorate our tree
Where: St Mary Redcliffe, 12 Colston Parade, Redcliffe, Bristol, BS1 6RA
How much: Free entry

Help us to decorate our tree

Our friends at Ali and Joes Christmas Trees have donated a tree for us and we need your help to decorate it! Ours will be a gratification tree and we would like to find out from you in a few words or short sentence, what you’re grateful for. Please send in notes of gratification to treefest@changesbristol.org and we will add this to a label for the tree!

One Saturday 4th December, the Changes Bristol team will be on hand to add any notes of gratification to the tree on the day, so you can come down and meet us instead if you want, we’d be happy to see you. 

All donations made during this festival will be split with Changes Bristol and ST Mary Redcliffe Community Projects. Questions? Email info@changesbristol.org or ring 0141 536 0920.

Fancy refreshing your wardrobe?

Have a rifle through your wardrobe and find any clothes or accessories you’ve fallen out of love with. Bring them along and find something new to add to your collection!

When: Tuesday 21st September
Where: Tobacco Factory, Raleigh Road, Bristol, BS3 1TF
How much: £5 entry (all proceeds help Changes Bristol fund mental health services)

How does a clothes swap work?

• Come along to the Tobacco Factory with your unwanted garments from 6pm – 6.45pm
• Pay your £5 entry fee (all goes to Changes Bristol). Exchange your garments for tokens which you will later be able to swap for new clothes!
• Chill out in Tobacco Factory, grab a drink.
• From 7pm you will be able to peruse around and find some lovely new clothes in exchange for your tokens!

All proceeds from entry will go to Changes Bristol, a mental health charity who provide crucial support group services across Bristol, over the phone and online!

Questions? Email fundraise@changesbristol.org or ring 0141 536 0920.