Routes to Resilience
Nature Connection
I have always loved being outside and my work took me to urban adventure playgrounds and Forest Schools. I worked with the Northmoor Trust (now Earth Trust) to bring Forest Schools to Oxfordshire long before they became a popular national movement. I worked for Learning through Landscapes, the national school ground charity, for many years. In 2012 I founded The Nature Effect. This is a small but thriving community interest company which brings together those who want to  engage in restorative nature work. Our associates - highly skilled individuals from a range of backgrounds - collaborate on a project-by-project basis, partnering with public sector and community groups to foster innovative ideas, learn from one another and make a tangible positive difference. 
In my leadership development work, coaching and consultancy I always aim to work with and for living systems design principles. Nature teaches us about resilient systems, offers inspiring  solutions to tangled relationships, and helps us understand how to grow new venture - paying attention to the conditions of the ground and climate.  We can pay attention to what is flourishing, what needs more shelter and what is perhaps planted in the wrong place? What weeds are blocking our processes? What pests do we need to watch out for? Who are the pollinators bringing ideas? Who are the gardeners and what tools do they need? Most importantly how do we celebrate a good harvest - measuring and learning from what we have produced, and then sharing it with others? Living systems remind us that collaboration with nature and each other makes us stronger - in our bodies, our communities and the organisations in which we work.
“Annie is a highly experienced coach in leadership training and adapts methods and approaches to suit your own learning style and preferences. Her coaching is entirely focussed on yourself and goes to a depth which can’t be achieved in classes. She is kind, very easy to talk to, listens carefully, is astute and inspiring. She understands the importance of vision, strategy, organisational culture as well as the complexities and challenges in team dynamics relating to individual personalities and drivers. Her interest in connecting coaching with mindfulness and nature was both exciting as well as effective.”
Isabel D. Holowaty Co-Head of Humanities Libraries