Today, we’re catching up with one of our amazing Outdoor Programme Leaders, Solveig!
Solvejg. Tell us a bit about yourself. Have you always been an outdoorsy person?
In short: YES. The long story: I grew up in Germany going to a forest kindergarten, joining scouts, (with them I did many hiking and canoeing trips) when I was only 7 years old, having a father who took me to week-long trips to the Alps from a very young age, joining a climbing club which also went for outdoor rock climbing trips. All this led to me taking my 8 year old sister to the Alps for 4 days when I was only 18 years old and then going to New Zealand to go hiking there for 2 months in my gap year after school to finally moving to Scotland in 2020 to study Adventure Education in Fort William and then starting this job. I love being outside and the mountains are my favourite playground.
You’ve been with VS since September 2023 – what do you like most about your role?
That my role and how I work aligns with my own values. I am able to work person centred which means that I create the programme around the participants and their needs instead of trying to fit them into a set structure. Working this flexible is very unique, even in the Outdoor Industry, and I appreciate that we want to deliver our programmes at a high quality working with the people we have in front of us.
Venture Scotland believes that nature and the outdoors are key to maintaining and improving health and wellbeing – what do the outdoors mean to you?
I personally don’t know who I would be without the outdoors. They have been part of my life throughout my entire upbringing and I feel free and at home at the same time being in the mountains. They calm my mind, make my personal problems seem small and remind me of what’s actually important to me.
What’s your favourite VS memory?
I am leading our Venture On to Recovery programme in Glasgow. It is one of our projects with other organisations and it’s a 12-week personal development programme with people in recovery from addiction. My favourite memory happened on an evening in week 8 at the last course when we went away for an overnighter and in the evening we did a check-in as I felt that the group was a bit disconnected from each other. One of the participants who had not been as open before, suddenly opened up and shared a lot of emotions with the group, they listened well and it was like a catalyst taking the check-ins from now on to a much deeper level. I felt honoured to be part of it and so happy for the participants that they reached this depth with each other and received a lot of peer support from each other.
What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about starting the programme?
It’s okay to be afraid, that’s normal when starting something new, and everyone else in your group is probably also at least a little nervous. And we are here to support you challenging yourself, if that’s abseiling down a rock face, jumping into the sea, or sharing with your group how you are feeling. And trust me, if you can make yourself come to the first day, you have already done so well, as the first step is a big one and we will support you in taking more steps into the direction you want!
If you could only take part in one more activity session with VS, what activity would it be and why?
Does a bothy trip to our Kinlochetive bothy count? I love being together with a group, our volunteers and my colleagues in a beautiful place in the mountains. Bothy trips create so much time to “just be together”. Playing cards, guitar, reading books, cooking, etc. Because there is less going on in terms of getting ready for the day and setting up gear, everyone becomes so much more relaxed with each other and things feel very natural. We also call this the Bothy Rhythm!
