Active Hope Youth Collective

Calling forth a collective of young people who are seeking a space of mutual support, creativity and positive action in uncertain times!

 Are you feeling overwhelmed by the multiple crises unfolding on Earth? 

Do you want to dream a narrative of the future being beautiful?

Are you looking for ways to stay hopeful and resilient in a community willing to face such realities together? 

Statistics of young people suffering from climate anxiety are on the rise yet there is a lack of support for how to deal with this..

This organisation intends to support young people to find each other, build community and move through the pain of the earth to cultivate a united youth collective. We hope that by acknowledging what is going on in the world and providing space for emotions to be explored, young people can feel more hopeful about their future. 

During the sessions we are offering we will explore the Active Hope spiral together, delving into themes of connection, belonging and courage, through avenues of play, crafting, foraging, nature immersion and land care. This work is rooted in the land and offers practices of Active Hope to empower meaningful responses to our shared concerns for the world. The spiral of Active Hope involves four stages: coming from gratitude, honouring our pain for the world, seeing with new eyes and going forth. The creative and imaginative tools this journey offers seek to connect each of us with our unique gifts to offer the wider community and web of life.

Who are we?

We are Juliet and El - passionate activists, facilitators and land lovers. We met during our MSc at Schumacher, El studied Movement Mind and Ecology and Juliet studied Engaged Ecology. Our experiences of ‘activism’ is partly what brings us together, both critical of making change through an ‘us’ and ‘them’ approach. This led us to reflect and transform the way we approach the politics of change. We want to provide space for others to explore what ‘activism’ means to them and, how it can be applied within everyday approaches, changing the system through a dedication to beauty, joy, and creativity instead of scarcity, fear and overwhelm. 

“You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the ocean in a drop” - Rumi 

Do not try to save
the whole world
or do anything grandiose.
Instead, create
a clearing
in the dense forest
of your life
and wait there
patiently,
until the song
that is yours alone to sing
falls into your open cupped hands
and you recognise and greet it.
Only then will you know
how to give yourself
to this world so worthy of rescue.” 

- Martha Postlethwaite