Natural Highs

I emailed Anthony Nevens case manager from Compass in February this year to tell him about my idea to use the mountains in an awareness & fundraising event. I was directed to him by Nick Sinclair a pathway officer with the York branch of DAAT, he told me how Anthony & co had a scheme called Natural Highs that took people in recovery out into the countryside on various outward bound activities. They had recently completed a coast to coast bike ride & made a film of it, I watched the film & knew that they were the perfect group to approach & sure enough Anthony replied to my first email with the words, " sounds good, tell me more. " 

Anthony grasped immediately the concept of just what the mountains had to offer & what they represent. Life is a series of ups & downs, Uphill battles, down & outs,  everyone wants to be on top, the metaphors are endless. They don't come easy, we have to put in a great effort just as we do in our day to day lives, traveling the path of least resistance has it's place but there comes a point when that  goal that reward means an effort of immense strength of mind & body. Only on the summit do you truly realize that " the top feels so much better than the bottom ."

We have kept in touch ever since & so we were due to meet at the foot of Pen- Y-Ghent on Sunday 10 June, sadly I had to miss out circumstances were against us that day but that won't stop the good work. We aim to meet on Scafell Pike on 28th July world hepatitis day.

 Here is the article posted on their website...

Natural Highs on Tour

Natural Highs is a Compass specific approach to delivering recovery orientated group activities that are focused on improving health and wellbeing.

The Natural Highs programme consists of a range of motivational and team building challenge activities.  Each challenge promotes the development of personal qualities such as co-operation, clear thinking, careful observation, resourcefulness, persistence and adaptability, all of which are of value to service users in recovery.

On the summit of Pen-Y-Ghent

Natural Highs originated in Compass Selby where the programme continues to grow. On Sunday, staff and service users from Selby completed a nine-mile hike on Pen-Y-Gent, the first of the famous Yorkshire Three Peaks.  The group is supporting Peter Moore who is taking part in the Three Peaks Challenge to raise money for the Hep C Trust finishing on World Hepatitis Day. You can follow Peter’s blog here.

An evaluation of Natural Highs in 2011 confirmed that it gives people the motivation, courage and confidence to achieve stable and drug free lives. As a result, the programme is now being integrated across the Compass network.

Coast to coast bike ride, check it out... http://www.compass-uk.org/2011/05/18/riding-for-recovery/