Meet David Willis , a man with adventure in his heart, who formerly served with the Royal Engineers in Belize, and is now teaching those young and old bushcraft and wilderness skills.
Here NR Times speaks to David about how he caters for every ability and needs.
“I’ve been teaching bushcraft for about 12 years. I studied for a year on a leadership course, to learn all sorts of different aspects of working outdoors and how to teach the subject of bushcraft.”
On bushcraft David says: “It’s a route to connect with nature, have some fun and learn some skills outdoor.”
Although formally being in the army, David stresses that what he offers is different to a survival course, and that bushcraft is “very relaxed.”
David says he enjoys the opportunities bushcraft has given him to work with “groups that probably wouldn’t be able to do this elsewhere, or don’t get it offered or don’t realise its something they can do.
“That’s how I came to work with a charity that helps those with acquired brain injuries.”
David ran sessions with the charity just before the pandemic, working small groups between 4 to 6 individuals, who attended along with their carers.
David mentions one of the participants who had a severe brain injury who has a 24 hour carer, and how he was able to help him partake in knife skills. He says: “He was able to hold a knife and a stick, I put my hands over the top of his and we were able to make things together.
“I got feedback from his mother who just said he was happy for the rest of the day, simply because he spent time out in the wild.”
When it comes to adapting for certain needs, David says: “It’s not what they’re capable of, it’s whether I’ve got a plan, and I can figure out a way to help them so that they can overcome whatever challenges, and they can just get on with it.”
Feedback David had from the charity group was “can we come back? Can we do another one?”
With bushcraft, David also offers one to one sessions, he recalls to us a session he had with a man living with Parkinson’s.
“The main thing for him was the hand-eye-coordination with a knife, he had brought his own along, so he was really keen.
David offers a range of events and courses, from whittling to bread making.
“It was all about just taking time and showing him how to do things and sometimes we’d have to use different techniques.
“If you’re someone who finds coordination hard, being shown different ways to do things makes a difference.”
On his methods how he approaches working with those with extra needs, David says: “Really, I’d say for any form of special needs, whether that’s head injury, Parkinson’s or physical ability. It’s just having someone who’s willing to take a bit of time, come up with a few ideas, adapt and see where it goes.
“As long as the participants happens to play along that lines, and it tends to work.”
David does highlight whilst he does not offer anything specialist, what has worked well is “simply having enough time and not being in a rush and adopting where is necessary.”
If you’re interested in one of David’s courses or just finding out more about him, you can find all the details here: http://www.davidwillis.info/
