Broadcast appearances
Last October I made a film for BBC Autumnwatch 2020 which you can watch on the iplayer here, explaining the science behind the beneficial effects that five elements of nature have on our brains and mental health. I wrote a segment on this subject for Springwatch 2020 and Chris Packham presented it due to lockdown restrictions. To be part of the ‘Watches’ was a huge honour and I hope to work with that utterly brilliant team again soon.
I’ve been a guest on Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour twice. In 2018, just after Making Winter’s publication, I explained to Jane Garvey how craft can alleviate SAD and improve mental health and in 2020 I was part of a panel discussing ways to lift mood and keep the mind occupied during lockdown.
Broadcast on Radio 4 in April 2021, author and Wainwright prize winner Amy Liptrot’s series the New Anatomy of Melancholy focussed on Robert Burton’s book from 1621 and how it compares to our knowledge of depression today. Alongside Monty Don, in an episode about gardens and the natural world (link above), I explained to Amy the ways in which green places trigger changes in our bodies and minds that can lift our mood
Shortly after lockdown began in March 2020, Chris Packham & Megan McCubbin began the Self Isolating Bird Club, with the aim of lifting the spirits of nature lovers by creating a daily online programme that was similar to Springwatch. I created a series of five films for SIBC about elements of nature that shift our brain chemistry to alleviate anxiety and lift mood. Those films were the basis of my Autumnwatch 2020 film and was a guest on SIBC in September 2020 and February 2021.
In February 2019 I was a guest on Radio 4’s Ramblings with Clare Balding, Annie, Clare and I walked near my home here in the Fens and I told Clare about how contact with nature helped me out of a period of severe depression, resulting in my book The Wild Remedy.
In early 2018 I appeared on BBC Countryfile and taught Anita Rani how to make a beautiful silver pendant from yarrow we found in a hedgerow (see image in the photo collage above). While we walked in the Fens I told her how spending even short amounts of time in green places or just 15 minutes on a creative activity can improve mental health. In 2019 I appeared on stage at Countryfile Live with Anita and Countryfile producer Joanna Brame.
Journalism
I’m a Guardian Country Diarist, have written about the impact both nature and craft can have on mental health in the Chris Packham guest edited edition of the Big Issue,in the ipaper and I was interviewed by Psychologies magazine.
Between 2019 and 2020 I designed 4 seasonal collections of botanical-inspired craft projects for the UK’s ever popular lifestyle magazine Country Living.
I founded, co-edited, wrote editorial, created designs for and ran the Facebook page of the Comic Relief/Mollie Makes Crafternoon magazine project which brought Britain’s most brilliant designer makers and celebrities together and was on sale in Sainsbury’s in 2015 & 2017. This project has now raised over £100,000 for brilliant Red Nose Day projects.
