Having my friend Siwan over last week felt like we were doing almost something illegal. That aside, I had a wonderful chance for talking and connecting. Getting opportunities to share time and free flow thoughts and feelings with like minded people seems more precious than ever now.
Siwan established and heads up the Australian River Restoration Centre (ARRC). It’s a not-for-profit like Two Green Threads, just at different points in the ecosystems of nature. We share a connection beyond friendship, as we both have an affinity for our natural environment, and the life it sustains for our wildlife.
The reason Siwan and I got together was to record an episode, for the ARRC podcast ‘Conversations over a Cuppa’. In this episode Siwan and I reflect on the tough few months we’ve had in Australia, along with the heightened state of anxiety and fear it is causing people to experience for some time now. We talk about a new resource called ‘Take Care to Give Care’ – a Guide that Two Green Threads has produced for wildlife carers. We acknowledge and discuss the strength and scale of impact these recent events are having on our minds, body and general well being, and share how we can build resilience through the A-B-C framework outlined in the ‘Take Care to Give Care’ Guide – Awareness, Balance and Connection.
Please take some time to have a listen to the episode (available below) or on Spotify (click here) or Apple Podcasts (click here). We hope it helps you to better understand your own reactions to current events, and give you some tips for gaining awareness and expression that will help you to build your own mental and health fitness. This is very important so that we, as volunteers in the wildlife sector, can continue to make a difference to the scale and sustainability of our efforts, and help secure a future for our wildlife.
The Take Care to Give Care guide first took shape during an earlier crisis, the drought and bushfires, which may not be top of mind for some now but for many, the impact of those experiences are still occupying thoughts, hearts and lives. This guide offers information and prompts to help wildlife volunteers balance their care of wildlife with care for themselves. Perhaps listening to this episode can help spark a conversation of your own with another wildlife colleague who is living through the double 2020 crisis, giving a point of connection at a time of isolation.
‘Take Care to Give Care’ Guide
The Take Care to Give Care Guide has been prepared with the purpose of helping build resilience for individuals and the wildlife volunteer sector as a whole.
