Delivering the mental health benefits of nature requires resource managers to reconsider the benefits of the lands and waters under their jurisdiction and see them as more than simply recreational assets. This workshop looks at how innovative resource managers are engaging community members in the process of creating natural spaces to deliver mental health benefits to the public, and in the process amplifying the connection between the health of community, individual health and the health of the natural world.
Schedule:
9-9:50 am: Panel Discussion
9:50-10:00: Break
10-10:28: Breakout/World Cafe Round 1
10:30-11:00: Breakout/World Cafe Round 2
11:00-11:05: Transition Time
11:05-11:55: Roundup / Next Steps (plenary)
11:55 am – 12 pm: Thank You / Adjourn
To begin the workshop, a panel discussion will explore the ways three different resource managers are engaging their community members in the creation and management of natural spaces.
Moderator: Tanner Yess, Executive Director, Groundwork Ohio River Valley (SHIFT Board Member; 2017 Emerging Leader)
Panelists:
Following the panel discussion, participants and panelists will be placed in breakout rooms in smaller groups to continue discussing the topic using a World Cafe format.
Two 30-minute rounds of world cafe-style breakouts will be followed by a thirty-minute “roundup” that reports out on the findings of each breakout room.
The final thirty minutes of the workshop will synthesize the proceedings into next steps.
NOTE TO ALL PARTICIPANTS: Both the Panel Discussion and the Roundup / Next Steps will be recorded for later distribution. If you do not wish to be recorded, you are kindly asked not to participate in these elements of the workshop.
Tanner Yess
Rodrick Bell
Fred Smith
Marley Puanani Smith
