Case Studies

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Alex!  Please tell us a bit about yourself and your organisation.

 

I am the Nature and Wellbeing Officer for The Bay: A Blueprint for Recovery project in Morecambe. The Bay is a multi-award-winning Nature and Wellbeing Programme bringing together the work of the Lancashire Wildlife Trust, Cumbria Wildlife Trust and Eden Project with support from the Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust. I’ve been with The Bay since the start in 2021 and in my role, I run a session programme to help people to connect with nature and get involved with nature conservation to benefit their wellbeing.

 

What made you sign up for a Creative Problem Solving session with The Strictly Sustainable Writer?

 

I heard about the sessions from Laura who I met through her involvement in The Bay’s activities. I also heard about the creative problem-solving from my colleague who took part in a session with Laura before I did, and they recommended it to me.

 

I was interested to give it a go and make space to reflect on my practice and think more creatively about approaching the project moving forwards.  

 

Biggest breakthrough or lightbulb moment.

 

I think one of the prompts was something similar to ‘what would stop you from moving forwards with this?’ and I think this prompted the realisation that some of the barriers in place for me were that I wasn’t fully recognising the potential and freedom for creativity in my work. 

 

Identifying this barrier helped me to approach my work differently and to be more creative.

 

I became more creative and followed projects that aligned with my interests and experience – it gave me the confidence to develop projects in my own way with more of a personal touch rather than just following ‘this is how I see others doing things so this is how it should be done.’

 

Looking back how are things different now? 

 

During the session I felt very engaged and was surprised by how quickly the time passed. It felt very special to be able to make dedicated time for something like this. It’s also been something that I’ve kept coming back to - both the goals I was working towards at that moment in time and the process that Laura guided me through. I have re-visited some of the problem-solving process in planning other projects and it has been very helpful in moments where I have felt stuck or have wanted to feel a stronger sense of direction. 

 

I think the process helped me to feel more confident and empowered, both in recognising the benefits of the work that I do and in recognising the freedom for creativity in my work. I’ve developed projects that feel aligned with my values and interests, and this has given me confidence to shift into a more creative way of working and to suggest improvements or identify new areas in my work to develop.

 

How do you see your project developing in the future? 

 

Continuing to take chances and embrace the creative freedom of my role.

 

Thank you for the opportunity.   I would recommend the Creative Problem-Solving sessions to anyone who is feeling stuck or who is planning a project and wants to explore different ways of approaching their goals.