The founder of a new Sheffield walking group has explained how getting out in nature can be a powerful way to boost the wellbeing of people living in cities. 

The Inner City Healers, which launched in September last year, has already welcomed over 200 people from different backgrounds, ethnicities and religions across the city to join outdoor walks and talk about their mental health.

The group has organised five hikes into the Peak District in beauty spots such as Mam Tor and Ladybower Reservoir, with as many as 45 people attending each one.

Jamal Aziz, the group’s 25-year-old founder, says he was inspired to start the Inner City Healers after seeing how being outside improved the life of his father, who has lived with Paranoid Schizophrenia for over 20 years. 

“One day we just decided to get out and go for a walk, and I could see how much of a difference that little walk made for my dad physically, in the way he was speaking, and how he was coping with everything,” Jamal says. 

“So we started going on walks regularly, and I saw a massive change in him. It’s not a cure but it’s a big help, and that connection we got on the walks is one I never had with my dad before.”

For Jamal, who took up hiking in 2017 after falling in love with being outside, spending time in nature was a revelation for his own wellbeing too.

 “I feel like nature is my mental health healer,” he says. “If I wasn’t going on my hikes, my head would be all over the place. It’s my safe space as well.”

Jamal’s experiences are increasingly being backed up by science. In 2021, a survey by the Mental Health Foundation found that 70% of adults agreed being close to nature improved their mood, while other studies have shown that chemicals released by trees can lower stress hormones and improve the immune system. 

It was experiencing these benefits first hand that made Jamal want to share them with others in his community.

“I’ve seen the struggle, I’ve seen the hardships, and I know how to understand someone who is suffering because of the situation with my dad,” he says. “I wanted to use that to make a difference.”

Jamal says the group, which is open to anyone over 16, aims to break down barriers to men talking about their mental health by creating a non-judgemental place for them to speak with others going through similar issues.  

He says: “I feel like men have a lot of pride, so they’re not comfortable, or they feel weak telling someone about their mental health problems.

“I’m just trying to build a community and a safe space for all of the boys. No matter what you look like, you can come on my walk and you can have fun, you can enjoy yourself, and you can have the conversations you want to have.”

It’s an approach which has proved hugely successful – 30 young men turned up to the group’s first walk, and Jamal, a trained mental health first-aider, has a backlog of 20 others who have signed up to one-to-one walks to discuss their problems privately. 

Akhtar Hussain, a supporting director of the Inner City Healers, says he was pleasantly surprised by how popular the walks have been, which have seen people travelling from as far away as Manchester and Bradford to take part. 

“For them to come so far to join our group shows they must really need someone to talk to, and that’s exactly what this gives them,” Akhtar says. 

“People get a chance to offload everything that they’ve had to deal with over the week. And the reason why being in nature with the group helps is that there’s not a sign of judgment there.”

For Akhtar, building a sense of community and breaking down prejudices for people who come on walks is just as important as boosting mental health.

“We’ve got so many issues around rivalry nowadays. Young lads will go from Pitsmoor to Firth Park and have an issue with someone just because of where they live,” he says. 

“But on these walks, you’ve got guys from Firth Park, Burngreave, Pitsmoor, and they come together without any rivalry. You’re out in the middle of the woods, on the mountains, in the fresh air, and no-one owns anything there.

“And the best thing about it is that tomorrow, if there’s an issue and some guys know each other from this walk they’ve gone to, they might be able to stop it before there’s another stabbing or another violent attack, which is massive.”

With its focus on inclusivity, the Inner City Healers, which originally began as a group for men, has now opened its walks to women too.

Henna Ali, a 27-year-old teacher from Firth Park, attended a recent hike to Mam Tor after she came across the group on Instagram, and was blown away by how welcoming they were.

“I did not feel like I was an outsider at all,” she recalls. “Everyone was so friendly, and I felt so comfortable and supported. 

“At one point I was struggling to get up the hill, and I thought I’m not fit enough for this. But the group were all cheering me on. They were literally giving me hands to climb up, and people were waiting at the bottom in case I fell, so I just felt so safe and included.”

A registered Community Interest Company, the group is now applying for council funding to make the hikes even more accessible by purchasing a minibus to transport people from the city, and hopes to run family hikes in the near future too. 

But for Jamal, it’s seeing the change in people who join the walks which makes all the difference. 

“We had this young lad who was going through a hard time and was a very reserved kid,” he recalls. “He came on one of our walks, had an amazing time, and now he’s gelled with everyone.

“If I can help change someone’s mindset like that then the world is my oyster, and I just want to be the pearl.”