Sound in Nature is a wellbeing programme that uses Supportive Music and Imagery. We make creative use of sounds and music in a green space setting to boost positive mental health and lessen anxiety.
Each group session is a safe space, which explores making and listening to natural sounds in a creative way. It allows group members to ‘let go’, builds trust within the group, and unleashes creative inspiration, which leads to feelings of increased wellbeing, safety, and being rejuvenated by nature.
Group members and support workers describe the programme as ‘fun, but also safe’, allowing freedom of expression and a creativity many people didn’t know they had within them.
WEMA has run five Sound in Nature programmes for adults, as well as a pilot project for young people at Bath City Farm.
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What happens during the sessions?
We go outdoors every week, sometimes planting things together. We create and compose music, improvise on different nature themes, maybe to do with the seasons or water or the herbs that we are planting.
The feel of the soil and the plants, the touch of the wood or the metal of the instruments – this sensory nature is also part of the wellbeing aspect. The group share news and tell stories, sometimes using music to add to the story and sometimes to relax to. Different instruments are chosen for their timbre and sound quality – for example the meditative vibe of the metal tongue drum which is pitched.
On another occasion we may use some recorded music or recorded nature sounds. Laura and Emmanuel, music therapist and wellbeing practitioner use their own musicality to support the sounds and music using guitar and clarinet and other percussion. At other times we all play djembe (drums) and play really loud enjoying the dynamic build up and excitement!
Further Information
In Autumn 2022, Healthier with Nature, Wesport, and South Gloucestershire council, launched the Positive Activities funding programme for groups delivering nature-based interventions in South Gloucestershire. The Creative Health team at WEMA secured grant funding for a pilot programme at Grimsbury Farm over three months.
Due to the success of the pilot, the WEMA Creative Health team were then awarded a Green Social Prescribed (GSP) grant to develop the project. In turn, this led to a partnership with Kingsmeadow@MadeForever, a community hub near Grimsbury Farm in Kingswood, Bristol, which has strong community links as well as outdoor space. The partnership evolved and secured further funding to co-design and deliver a year-long programme.
A new Sound In Nature programme, based at the Park Centre in Kingswood, Bristol, has been established in 2025.