• Yes. Doubt is a totally normal, healthy and human response to any new opportunity. This course has been designed with beginners and those early on in their environmental and education careers in mind. You will get all of the support and time you need from us and your peers. We believe anyone with an open mind and a collaborative attitude can easily complete this training.
• Consent is key for us – we will never make you to do anything you don’t wish to and you will be supported to meet any challenges gently and in gradual stages.

• Great, we’re here to help you get experienced!
• We have camping gear that we can lend as necessary and will teach you how to use confidently.

“The things I feared most going into the camp and thought I would find most challenging, like the rain and cold, bats, slugs and bugs, and using an outdoor shower and toilet, ended up being the things I most appreciated. I faced my fears in a gentle and supported way, which has enabled me to see myself in a different, more capable way. So grateful to The Visionaries team for allowing me to be a part of this life-changing experience.”

– Nadege Rene, past participant with The Visionaries

• We recognise that camping and the countryside can feel less familiar and sometimes daunting to people of colour and people from urban environments. AND all of our ancestors, of all colours and creeds, came from outside of cities. This is an opportunity to reconnect with that lineage.
• We know it can be challenging. As an organisation, The Visionaries have been successfully leading diverse groups on positive trips into the wild for 4+ years. As a course Faculty, we have 80+ years joint experience. We’ve got your back

• No. Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate or unacknowledged adoption of something that doesn’t belong to you or your culture. We will address the risk of cultural appropriation by honouring the lineages from which we draw and treating practices respectfully.
• We do all have our blind spots and will be inviting participants to co-create a culture of openness, dialogue and mutual learning. This will be enshrined in our course covenant.

• Everyone should be able to enjoy the outdoors, no matter what their experience or ability. If you have limited mobility, or are a wheelchair user, you will know that outdoor access can present challenges. We are committed to partnering with anyone in this position to try to maximise inclusion, and we will make necessary adjustments and do whatever we can to help you to participate.
• Wherever possible, the course takes places in fully acccessible venues with disabled toilets – please see the course dates section for details. Please feel free to contact us to discuss specific details of the sites we will be using: hello@thevisionaries.org.uk
• If you are a wheelchair user who has never previously camped we would advise you against applying to this course this year. But please do feel free to contact us to discuss – and to come on one of our public camps to start your journey.

• Thanks to generous support from Social Innovation Circle, this is currently a fully-funded course.
• Please remember that those who start and fail to complete the course will be taking up a place that others could have benefited from.
• If you decide we didn’t deliver on our promise for any reason, please do let us know so that we can learn together and seek to improve the experience for future cohorts.

• This is a carefully sequenced course and attendance at all elements is strongly encouraged.
• Any expenses will be reimbursed within 2 weeks.
• We will deal with any unforseen emergencies that might prevent you from attending on a case-by-case basis – please contact us as soon as possible in such cases.
• Please note that we are unlikely to be able to offer further employment to anyone who has not successfully completed the training.
• Please remember that those who start and fail to complete the course will be taking up a place that others could have benefited from.

• It is our strong intention and highly likely that those who successfully complete this training will be offered further paid employment with The Visionaries and/or our partners – this may include freelance and seasonal guiding, youth and schools work, coordination roles, project management etc.
• We will also be offering a written reference to all graduating trainees and proactively seeking to help you find further employment with our partners and across the sector.
• There are a number of potential next steps and clear pathways you may wish to follow after this course. We will help you to identify those options, make introductions to helpful allies and partners, and support to get you well established in the sector.

• Not at the moment. This course is designed to help people begin or develop early-stage careers in the environmental education and outdoors sectors. Whilst not currently accredited, the course will give you vital practical experience and put you in a strong position to be able to set up and run your own initiatives or apply for related roles in future.
• Between us, the course faculty have 80+ years experience in the education and outdoors sectors. We have designed the training with that experience in mind, aiming to equip you to run effective, engaging and safe nature-connection experiences for children and young people in a wide variety of settings.
• We will aim to help you, during the course, to gain recognised Safeguarding and Mental Health First Aid qualifications.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch: hello@thevisionaries.org.uk