Job Profile: Youth Engagement Officer (Nature Connection)

Name: Benjamin Jamieson

Location: Office based at The Cut in Shrewsbury but I work across the West Midlands.

Employer: Shropshire Wildlife Trust

Job Responsibilities:

The main responsibility of my job is to help deliver the Environmental Leadership Programme (ELP2). ELP2 is a Free programme for 18-25 year olds across the West Midlands with three main aims; to learn more about the green sector and the careers available, to promote leadership skills and to develop a deeper connection to nature. This last aim is where I come in!

My job is focused around the concept of Nature Connection. Nature connection is about our relationship with nature. It’s how we engage with the natural world and the connection we form with it. My work is based largely on the research done by the University of Derby. Through their work, they came up with 5 pathways to nature connection: Contact (senses), Beauty, Emotion, Meaning and Compassion. These pathways are what I base the activities we run on.

ELP2 is a hybrid programme, with most of the content of the programme being delivered online over zoom. We get together 5/6 times over the course of the programme and this is where the participants really get to connect with nature. My main goals with the activities are to allow the groups to explore the natural world, to connect with each other and to allow them to embrace their inner child. We’ve done all sorts of activities since I joined. From den building and campfires, to birdwatching and sound maps! Of course I do what I can to bring nature connection into the online side of the programme including designing monthly nature connection activities for the group to do at home and adding a segment to the online sessions called Species Spotlight – which is essentially just an excuse for me to get very over excited about a plant, animal or fungi species you can find in the West Midlands.

My job also involves a lot of pastoral support. We aim to recruit 100 young people onto our programme each year. To ensure each person on the programme is properly supported and has a point of contact we split the cohort between the members of staff on the delivery team. I really enjoy this part of the job! From the very first pre-programme phone calls right through to our graduation ceremony, we get to work with the young people on our programme and help them explore the green sector and help them grow their confidence and skills.

As well as designing the fun nature connection activities and the pastoral support my job also consists of the slightly less fun but equally important parts such as booking venues, recruitment for the following year, collecting data and creating presentation slides. Every job has bits that aren’t your favourite but thankfully I’ve got plenty of parts of my job that I love to make up for it!

Outside of ELP2, I also get involved with the running of the Shropshire Wildlife Trust Youth Forum. The Forum has been set up to give 16-30 year olds in Shropshire the opportunity to have a say in how Shropshire Wildlife Trusts run with a specific focus on how the trust works for young people. In return the Youth Forum gain skills, get opportunities to meet other young people with similar interests and get to go on field trips to learn more about the conservation sector. As well as this, I also support anything else the Natural Childhood team at SWT is doing, so no two weeks look the same!

The majority of my time is spent creating session plans for both in person and online events. For in person sessions this includes: booking venues, planning travel for participants, creating risk assessments, planning nature connection activities and putting together presentations for the day. For online sessions it includes: designing presentations, creating pre and post session content, organising any guest speakers and researching the Species Spotlight species.

Time is spent mainly indoors (sadly!) I do get to spend some time outdoors but due to the programme being mostly online, most of my week is spent by my laptop.

There is some seasonal variation. When the programme is running (October-June) more of my time is spent on the delivery and pastoral support whereas during the summer months most of my time is spent on recruiting for the following year and planning the content of the year.

Qualifications needed:

Experience rather than a degree was the main thing needed for this role. For this role they were looking for: experience of delivering a variety of effective nature connection activities with a range of audiences, experience of working positively with young people, ideally outdoors in nature, and proven practical conservation skills and environmental knowledge.

Additional training: For this role an advanced DBS check was needed. Going into this role I also had a Level 3 award in Education and Training, Outdoor First Aid Training (including Emergency First Aid at Work), and Benefits of Outdoors for Children training.

Skills needed: A friendly and approachable personality is definitely needed! The job involves lots of work with young people to help them develop their skills and confidence so having an approachable and friendly personality is really important! You also need to have knowledge of the natural world including practical conservation skills and knowledge of the benefits of nature on both mental and physical wellbeing. While the job involves a lot of standing in front of crowds, you don’t need to love public speaking! Even still I get nervous doing it but you gain more confidence the more you do it! And finally, as with any conservation engagement role, you need to have a passion and love for showing and telling people about the natural world!

Advice to anyone looking at similar roles:

GET OUT IN NATURE! I know it’s cliché but get as much experience as you can! Whether that’s through volunteering, getting involved with a conservation youth group, taking part in surveys or engaging with programmes (like ELP2). The more you get out in nature, gain new skills and meet new people, the more likely you are to be employed.

The conservation field can be really difficult to get into so try to find anyway of getting your foot in the door. The more you can get involved with, the more opportunities will come your way!

 
If you have any queries about this role or would like to ask a question please get in touch here

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