Ascending together

Danny from our Marketing Team had the privilege of meeting Ian Sansbury, CEO of Mind Over Mountains in order to gain a better understanding of how our Ramble Worldwide Outdoor Trust (RWOT) donations are being used to support the great work that they do.

At Ramble Worldwide, we operate with a wholly charitable ethos, meaning that all our surplus profits go towards supporting good causes connected with the outdoors. This means that our customers can feel good knowing that by choosing a walking holiday with us they’re effectively contributing to noble causes such as Mind Over Mountains.

Mind Over Mountains (MOM) is a charity that provide professional counselling & coaching support whilst walking out in nature in the UK through well-being walks and weekend retreats. They exist because there’s a clear deficit of general wellbeing and lack of prioritisation of mental health across the UK. MOM support people aged 18+ and apply a research-backed innovative approach in support of good mental health & wellbeing. Their vision is for nature & activity-based mental health interventions to be the norm, commissioned and prescribed by the NHS, and accessible to all.

We wanted to dive in and see how our donations have helped create a positive impact.

We believe the world is more beautiful on foot. Mind Over Mountains is a charity that can also help people see that and embrace its beauty and mental health benefits when its needed most. That’s why we support them, and why surplus profits from the operation of our walking holiday go towards this deeply impactful cause. To be able to contribute to bettering the lives of those that have been struggling with their mental health is a privilege, and a key benefit of Ramble Worldwide’s wholly charitable ethos. Personally, I take pride in working for Ramble Worldwide knowing this.

“The walk was a catalyst for hope and personal growth. With hindsight, the lasting impact is more than you can imagine from just one walk. I’d never been part of such an accepting, non-judgmental community before, or been in a non-judgmental space like this, especially around mental health.” – Ruth, MOM Participant

Ian Sansbury shares in the video at the beginning of this article how our donations will be used, but here’s a further summary:

Ramble Worldwide Outdoor Trust are supporting Mind Over Mountains by giving £10,000 per annum across 3 years to fund full bursaries for participants aged 18+. These bursaries make it affordable and accessible for people struggling with their mental health to be involved in a day hike or multi-day retreat in North Wales or other beautiful areas of nature in the UK, such as the Gower Peninsula with specialist coaching and counselling.

A quiet walk in nature can be an important place for self-reflection – a place to work out where we’re headed in the world. But, as any avid walker will undoubtedly recognise, it’s also crucial for our long-term wellbeing. “We know that spending just 30 minutes outside in nature results in reduced stress and anxiety”, says Ian, “And at Mind Over Mountains we are passionate about bringing those benefits to people who are really struggling with their mental health.”

Much like the hills we hike, we all have our ups and downs, but what’s important to remember is that we’re all on the journey together. The staff and volunteers at Mind Over Mountains genuinely want to help people back up onto their feet. With no judgement, and instead with understanding, whilst having the capability and skillset to support people in deeply impactful, profound, and lasting ways.

1 in 4 people will experience a mental health problem of some kind each year in England. Considering this, Mind over Mountains are a solution to the UK's wellbeing and mental health deficit. They don’t promise to resolve the root cause of where feelings, beliefs, or issues stem from. But they do provide the opportunity for participants to feel empowered and capable enough to address their own root causes themselves - laying the first stone for participants to prioritise their mental health with a healthier mindset through empowerment and valuable tools for the mind.

With a scenic backdrop of the Chilterns landscape from Wendover Woods, my walk-and-talk conversation with Ian Sansbury taught me that our own blind spots cannot be revealed to us unless we seek them whilst staying open-minded.

We spoke about thoughts we are yet to think being exactly the ones we need in order to overcome a mental barrier. Sometimes we just need the right people and environment for a perspective-shifting thought to occur, which allows us to take that step forward in our lives.

Ian summarised this conversation with a beautiful quote…“We learn quickest from those that have already walked the path we are walking.” 

Combining this mental journey simultaneously with a physical one, hiking a fell in the Lake District for example, gifts a healthy exposure of nature and exercise that subliminally lifts a person’s mind into one that circulates more positive thoughts. Hope and self-belief growing with every step, allowing MOM participants to believe they can overcome their mental challenges while proving to themselves they can complete a physical one.

Ian shared his key observation from his experience of being involved in past Mind Over Mountains events, saying, “The most meaningful conversations are the ones that happen participant to participant. It’s not to say our wellbeing team isn’t working really hard, since they’re creating the conditions for an amazing conversation. What we tend to find is that people connect very quickly but then the conversations that they’re having with each other just become more and more profound over time.”