The Family Fresh Air Club (FFAC) is an early intervention strategy which tackles inequalities and improves health by supporting young families' use of local greenspaces. It aims to bring about long-term improvement in physical and mental health outcomes in areas experiencing high deprivation.
Developed by Dundee's Countryside Rangers and Community Learning and Development, with support from Scottish Natural Heritage's 'Simple Pleasures, Easily Found' campaign, the Club organises weekly outings to parks, woods, beaches and gardens, linking nature activity with family learning and health promotion. Family Fresh Air Club takes a simple but innovative approach to tackling a wide range of barriers to equality and inclusion amongst some of our most deprived communities. The Club crosses those barriers by combining 'green health' activities with a programme of professional support for ongoing adult and family learning in a safe and supportive environment. This highly successful project is now recognised nationally as a model for employing cross-service teamwork to tackle deep-rooted problems in deprived urban communities.
The challenge
The Family Fresh Air Club (FFAC) team consists of the Countryside Ranger Service and Community (Adult) Learning and Development (CLD) workers:
- CLD workers know their communities very well. They have the local knowledge necessary to promote FFAC sessions in a targeted way, allowing the project to offer places to hard-to-reach families and those experiencing barriers to inclusion. These are people who might not otherwise be able to access the information which would allow them to express an interest through the usual channels.
- Countryside Rangers are outdoor professionals with the knowledge, skills and social sensitivity to make possible lasting connections between people and the natural world around them.
Dundee City Council's strategic priorities (expressed in the City Plan and Council Plan) include that our children will have the best start in life and that we improve health and wellbeing for children who experience inequalities. We are also aware of the importance of physical activity, and have recently become among the first local authority areas to develop a comprehensive Physical Activity Strategy and sign up to The Daily Mile to encourage everyone to be more active.
Actions/approach taken
The FFAC contributes to achieving these outcomes by providing outdoor activities for children and families, helping to build stronger communities, and working to improve the health, care and wellbeing of the people of Dundee. The key objectives of the FFAC are to:
- target young families at most risk of social isolation within areas of deprivation
- provide support to encourage visits to local greenspaces
- be open to all but give specific consideration to the inclusion of vulnerable people living in targeted areas who are experiencing exclusion due to a wide range of social, economic, health, language and cultural barriers
FFAC consists of blocks of 5 x weekly outings, running consecutively. Each programme is a series of supported visits to a variety of local greenspaces e.g. Templeton Woods, Clatto Country Park, Dundee Law, Broughty Ferry Beach and the Botanic Gardens. Visits lasts for approximately 2.5 hours and include a nature walk, free healthy snack and Ranger-led nature activity, e.g. making wild bird feeders, planting native tree saplings etc.
Lack of personal transport is a barrier for many people getting outdoors so participants are collected by minibus from a central point in their community. They are encouraged to leave buggies and prams behind. Appropriate child booster seats are available for use in the minibus, along with protective all weather outerwear and footwear. There is no cost to the participants and no-one feels excluded because they can't afford to purchase any necessary items.
The project is supported by Scottish Natural Heritage in the form of financial assistance from the `Simple Pleasures, Easily Found' (SPEF) campaign. SPEF is just one of many initiatives that SNH and their partners use to deliver on the green health and green exercise priorities. The campaign aims to inspire more people to get out and enjoy the outdoors more often, through simple easy to do activities close to home. Such has been the success of the programme that SNH have confirmed funding for another three years, so the number of families benefiting will continue to grow. SNH have also recently filmed the project for use on social media and on You Tube.
Impact and results
The Family Fresh Air Club successfully crosses borders between services and removes barriers to participation for some of the hardest to reach groups in our most deprived communities. The multiple and long-lasting benefits gained by regularly spending time in natural outdoor spaces should be available to everyone, and Family Fresh Air Club helps achieve this aim.
Feedback from participants is continually assessed to see what works best, what has the most impact, and which activities are likely to have the longest-lasting effects, for example, the simple act of a parent planting a tree sapling with their child.
Seventy families have so far taken part in FFAC and the impact has been measured by carrying out evaluations before and after their participation in the five week programme. Questions were designed to show if there was any change in participants' confidence in using local outdoor greenspace for nature activities with their families.
These evaluation results and extensive feedback from participants demonstrate how appropriately supported visits to local greenspaces can significant increase peoples' use of, and confidence in visiting, urban natural areas along with the multiple benefits to be gained by them and their families. Benefits gained by participation in the programme were described by parents as:
- increased confidence
- improved exercise and fresh air
- access to learning opportunities for them as adults
- increased appreciation and knowledge of nature
- greater feelings of community
- increased opportunity for social and physical development of their children
- improved mental and physical health of the caregiver
The programme's structured and targeted approach has proved particularly successful for hard-to-reach groups e.g. parents from socially deprived urban areas with pre-school children, ethnic minority families and recent immigrants to this country. FFAC participation contributes to the social cohesion of the target areas by bringing together local families previously unknown to each other. In particular, the opportunity for those with ethnic minority backgrounds to extend their social circle is important. This is also true of the young children who take part and seem to make new friends very readily, passing any notion of language barriers with ease.
Participants are grateful and proud to have completed the programme, and this was demonstrated by the willingness of one parent to come along with the team when they were invited to showcase FFAC at SNH's Parliamentary Event `Urban Nature - Get Connected' at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh in 2017.
Here are just a few testimonials from happy users:
- “… a good way to build friendship specially for people who do not have friends in Dundee because they are new in the city or from another country, and to make children explore nature and play with other children and be with strange adults.”
- “Fresh Air Club helped us get to know places we'd never ever heard about.”
- “Good for kids to meet other kids from different backgrounds.”
- “(I) have depression, anxiety, fear of going out alone. Group gave me security and confidence and structure to overcome anxieties.”
- “When we helped plant flowers, l I felt we made a contribution to the landscape there and it's something to look forward to, to see how they grow.”
- “There's no way I would have gone to the beach in January (before taking part in this programme)!”
- “Made us think there is lots more outside activities you and your family can do.”
- “Given me my own ideas of where to take baby for a variety of outdoor activities.”
- “I have been back to the places that we went to. I have been brought up in Dundee and hadn't been to the places on my doorstep.”
- “Group has given me confidence to take baby to other organised groups that I have been made aware are available.”
- “Child has learned new skills interacting with other adults and children.”
- “I will continue to visit the new places that we were introduced to.”
- “Made another friend and we have met up outside of the group. We have different cultures and it is interesting learning about our cultures.”
- “We carried out activities at home that we learned on our outings, planting and watering seeds, feeding birds and revisiting places we were taken by the group to have some more adventures"
How is the approach being sustained?
Participants have gone on to take part in other activities such as joining Book Bug group, Peep group, Easter Club and coming along to holiday provision in their local school. Had they not come along to FFAC they wouldn't necessarily have found out about these groups. Friendships and mutual support relationships were also noted as resulting from being part of the group. Because FFAC is a series of outings, not just one, there is opportunity to really get to know each other. The families find they have so much in common, good and bad alike, no matter what their culture or background. It's a hugely supportive environment with long lasting benefits for children and adults alike.
Lessons learned
Family Fresh Air Club takes a completely unique and innovative approach to tackling a broad range of inequalities by creating a joint approach between two seemingly diverse services. The Countryside Ranger Service has long served the people of Dundee, connecting our citizens with greenspaces and nature as well as helping to promote access and responsible use of the outdoors. However it has not always been possible to specifically target younger families who are experiencing barriers to inclusion due to factors such as lack of access to transport or lack of confidence in taking their families out into the 'wilder' outdoors without additional support. These people are missing out on the well-established health, learning and social benefits obtained from green exercise. Community Learning and Development workers already have a channel open to exactly these families but lack the specific knowledge and training, and often the confidence, to lead groups in outdoor learning.
By teaming up these two specialties, FFAC has created a completely new concept in supported outdoor learning. Young parents learn that it is possible to confidently take their children to all the places they may have otherwise avoided. They learn there are many excellent sites around Dundee, most if not all of which are free and easily accessed by public transport. They learn that season and 'poor' weather need not mean staying indoors. The 'healthy eating' message is gently promoted and the inclusion of a short guided walk promotes simple physical exercise.
There exists a kind of `generation gap', where today's young adults have themselves missed out on the intuitive benefits of 'playing' outdoors. As young parents they often completely lack the skills and confidence to take their children beyond restricted urban or indoor play and learning activities. But early years learning about nature and physical activity outdoors can make a life-long change for the children taking part and this project makes that possible.
Next steps
The FFAC programme is now well established and has been running for several cycles. Since 2014 FFAC has been available to people living in the Lochee, Charleston, Menzieshill, Kirkton, Ardler, St Mary's and Fintry areas. So far, 70 families have taken part. In 2018/19 the target is to extend the project into Coldside, Maryfield, and Whitfield, including at least 30 more families.
For further information on this case study, please contact
Laura Lucas
laura.lucas@dundeecity.gov.uk
01382 431813)