1. Woodlands, work and wellbeing: harder-to-reach groups in rural Wales
the health and job-readiness impacts of Tir Coed’s intervention model in
harder-to-reach groups in rural Wales
Eleri Phillips Teresa Walters
Aberystwyth University Tir Coed

2. ‘IMPROVING LIVES THROUGH WOODLANDS’ ‘GWELLA BYWYD DRWY COETIROEDD’
Tir Coed is a charity and social enterprise that engages people with woodlands through volunteering, training and bespoke activities that increase well-being, develop skills and improve woodlands for the benefit of everyone.

3. Well-being in the Woods Skills and Progression in the Woods
Bespoke Coordination for group needs
Mentoring and Support to help every step of the way
Skills and Progression in the Woods

4. Since 2010, an average 64% of participants across the projects have been in employment, education, further training, or volunteering by the end of their Tir Coed training.

5. WICKED ‘07-’10 Branching Out ’10-’13 WISEWOODS ‘12-’16 VINE ‘13-’16
Since becoming a registered charity in 2007, Tir Coed has consistently developed and delivered training and wellbeing activities to engage participants with woodlands.
WICKED
‘07-’10
600 young people
(incl. NEETs and young carers) engaged with woodland-based training and activities
Branching Out
’10-’13
150 NEETs engaged with training
70 gained accreditation
WISEWOODS
‘12-’16
73 trainees
6 jobs created
300+ products sold
VINE
‘13-’16
150 people trained
94 accredited
1835 involved in bespoke activity sessions
LEAF Pilot
’17
51 people trained
36 accredited
509 took part in bespoke activity sessions

6. Between 2010 and 2017, more than
4,712
people have engaged with their local woodlands via Tir Coed training courses, bespoke activities, and community open days

8. Monitoring and evaluation methods
Since 2010, Tir Coed projects have assessed outcomes for participants using questionnaires based on:
Open-ended questions for qualitative responses
5-point Likert scales assessing:
Wellbeing
Aspirations
Training
The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well Being Scale (SWEMWBS)

10. LEAF Pilot: Wellbeing and employment outcomes from woodland-based training
Job-readiness
87% felt more able to take on responsibility
95 % enjoyed their activities
91% made new friends
72% gained Agored Cymru qualifications
60% felt good about themselves more often
64% were engaged in employment, education, further training, or other volunteering

11. The Short Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Score
A tool used by many intervention projects to assess wellbeing outcomes
Participants respond to seven statements about their thoughts and feelings
5-point Likert scale ranging from ‘none of the time’ to ‘all of the time’
Possible scores range from 7 to 35
Wellbeing scores were calculated for 14 participants who had completed questionnaires at the start and end of a 12-week training course

12. Post-training, the wellbeing indicators showing the most improvement were ‘feeling useful’ and ‘thinking clearly’, and ‘feeling close to others’.

13. The average wellbeing score increased by 1.8 points
(from 22.5 to 24.3)

14. The numbers are not the whole story…
I was feeling unhappy in my employment, dissatisfied and stuck in a rut. This project gave me energy, optimism, helped improve my well-being and opened my eyes to new types of employment in the future.
(F, 25-34, in part-time employment)
This course helped me feel 'wanted' again. Working with like-minded people was a tonic for my wellbeing.
(M, 55-64, Unable to work due to disability)
Got me up in the morning when I thought I couldn't. Good for job confidence, made me more reliable. (M, 18-24, Unemployed: In receipt of JSA)

15. Challenges and future directions for measuring outcomes
Some client groups struggle with literacy-based assessment
Assessing wellbeing is difficult:
Underestimate – participants unwilling to disclose
Overestimate – participants try to give the ‘right’ answer
Samples have been relatively small
Mentors support participants to complete questionnaires
PhD project will include interviews and focus groups
Improved monitoring procedures and staff time are in place to capture the biggest possible sample

16. Where we’re working
Tir Coed has secured funding for a variety of training, activity, residential and research projects across rural Wales until 2023.
If you would like further information about upcoming projects, please visit