The wellbeing of people is interconnected with the health of nature.
We know in our hearts from everyday experience that we thrive when we have healthy relationships with ourselves, other people, community/society and with the rest of nature, there is now mountains of research that backs this up. Some people call these types of feelings a sense of connection; connection is at the heart of wellbeing and wellbeing is what allows us to thrive.
Wellbeing = healthy relationships with self, others and nature.
Reason for being
HumaNature Connect was founded in 2013 in response to the mechanical and siloed way in which our society is addressing the environmental crisis we face. Whole conversations and solutions could be crafted in offices in the name of environmental sustainability without even mentioning plants, animals or any of the natural world including people, that we are trying to sustain. I made it my mission to bring nature back into every day consciousness by working across the environment and wellbeing sectors to ‘pollinate’ each with new ideas about how they could take an integrated approach toward a thriving natural world including humans.
Services introduce human wellbeing into the conversation about environment and sustainability and introduce the health of the natural environment into the conversation about human wellbeing. We will thrive if we can notice nature again, see how we are part of nature, see that nature is an essential part of human wellbeing and if we remember that it is nature that we are trying to sustain.
Erica Gurner – HumaNature Connect
See nature- see self in nature – see nature in wellbeing and sustainability.
Drawing on twenty years of experience working in the fields of genetics research, outdoor education, bush and adventure therapy, health promotion and transformational change, HumaNature Connect offers a wide range of experiences and learning opportunities.
Values and ways of working
Understanding our responsibility: We all are indigenous to this earth, every human being has the responsibility of environmental stewardship. There is much we can learn from Aboriginal people that will help us move beyond the western utilitarian definition of the human-nature relationship and foster a more holistic understanding that encompasses our physical, psychological and spiritual relationship with the rest of nature.
Re-inspiring creativity, curiosity and contribution: Imagine how much the world would thrive if everyone had the scope to live their values and passions in their work and personal life. What if we measured success in our personal and work life on how well we had contributed to making our natural and social world a better place rather than just material growth and mastery.
Interconnected approach: Environmental health and human wellbeing are intrinsically linked. To truly understand this concept requires a paradigm shift which can only be achieved through a deeper, broader level of inquiry that fosters empathy.
Learning is a transformational process of experience, reflection and meaning making. We work with the key questions: What have I experienced, what do I think I know, value and believe, what does that mean now and how will I take that new knowledge forward? The learning we gain needs to be understood and valued along side of the ‘scientific’ evidence base.
Informing fields of thought
The work is informed by many different fields of thought and techniques associated with personal and social transformation including:
- Systems thinking
- Health Promotion and Public Health
- Environmental interpretation
- Regenerative design
- Strength based and narrative approaches
- Social transformation processes -e.g. Utheory (deep listening); future visioning; collective thinking, human-centred design,
- Behaviour change theory and Social Marketing
- Creative inquiry process; art therapy
- Nature and outdoor education; bush adventure therapy
- Permaculture
- Indigenous ways of knowing
- Education for Sustainability
- EcoPsychology
- Social Ecology; Human Ecology
Who we work with
Government (Local and State), organisations, groups and individuals who are interested in thriving. We also believe everyone has the human right to access nature and so we work with some of the most excluded in the community through community mental health programs.
HumaNature Connect 