Alice Holt Lodge, Farnham, Surrey GU10 4LH, UK.
Perspect Public Health. 2011 Mar;131(2):71-81. doi: 10.1177/1757913910384048.
Those who experience emotional and behavioural difficulties or mental health problems, are unemployed or bereaved, or have been in trouble with the law can be socially marginalized and can become isolated from their families, community and wider society. This paper explores the role of active hands-on contact with the environment through a general environmental volunteering programme and through a targeted therapeutic volunteer programme, highlighting how these two approaches can potentially aid some marginalized people to reintegrate into society.
This study draws on concepts from the well-being and social capital literatures and refers to two separate pieces of research: Study 1 was based on general environmental volunteering primarily in northern England and southern Scotland; and Study 2 focused on mental health participants at Meanwhile Wildlife Garden in London. Ethnographic and interview data were gathered from participants as a means to understand the benefits they gained from their voluntary involvement. The participants all volunteered to undertake the activities they were involved in and chose outdoor nature activity as opposed to other activities.
There is self-reported and observed evidence from and of participants in these studies that contact with nature can be beneficial to a range of excluded groups; also the studies show that the learning and curative processes that take place in green spaces can provide benefits in terms of social reintegration of vulnerable young people and adults. Three key themes of particular relevance to the marginalized participants were identified as: (1) improving relations with others and nature; (2) working alongside others who are different; and (3) developing social and employable skills. Active hands-on engagement allows people to work at their own pace, since these approaches are not target focused, and skills and social networks can be developed slowly. Practical engagement in environmental conservation work is one approach that may provide people with a new role, identity, skills and social networks. This paper argues that volunteering in nature has the potential to provide a shared purpose for people, independent of gender, age, physical ability, mental functioning, socioeconomic status or knowledge of environmental management. However, it is recognized that particular people may and do experience barriers to engaging with and enjoying the natural environment.
Volunteering in nature may be particularly effective for those who would like to be outdoors and have more contact with nature yet need specific encouragement and supported/led activities to participate.
那些经历情感和行为困难或心理健康问题、失业、丧偶或有过违法行为的人可能会被社会边缘化，与家人、社区和更广泛的社会隔离。本文探讨了通过一般环境志愿服务计划和有针对性的治疗志愿服务计划积极参与环境的作用，强调了这两种方法如何帮助一些边缘化的人重新融入社会。
本研究借鉴了福利和社会资本文献中的概念，并参考了两项独立的研究：研究 1 主要基于英格兰北部和苏格兰南部的一般环境志愿服务；研究 2 侧重于伦敦Meanwhile Wildlife Garden 的心理健康参与者。通过参与者的民族志和访谈数据，了解他们从志愿参与中获得的收益。所有参与者都是自愿参与他们所从事的活动，并选择户外自然活动而不是其他活动。
这些研究中的参与者有自我报告和观察到的证据表明，与自然接触对一系列被排斥的群体有益；此外，这些研究还表明，在绿色空间中发生的学习和治疗过程可以为弱势青年和成年人的社会重新融入提供好处。三个与边缘化参与者特别相关的关键主题被确定为：（1）改善与他人和自然的关系；（2）与不同的人一起工作；（3）发展社交和就业技能。积极参与实践允许人们按照自己的节奏工作，因为这些方法不是以目标为中心的，技能和社交网络可以缓慢发展。参与环境保护工作是一种可能为人们提供新角色、身份、技能和社交网络的方法。本文认为，在自然环境中做志愿者可能为那些希望在户外、与自然有更多接触但需要特定鼓励和支持/引导活动参与的人提供一种共同的目标。然而，需要认识到，有些人可能会而且确实面临参与和享受自然环境的障碍。
在自然环境中做志愿者可能对那些喜欢户外活动、希望更多地接触自然但需要特定鼓励和支持/引导活动参与的人特别有效。
