Meet The Outdoor Connection 2025 Facilitators
The Outdoor Connection is back! Taking place next Friday 25th - Sunday 27th April, this face-to-face event brings together community groups and organisations, system partners and brands who are working to support access to nature and the outdoors.
We are always delighted to welcome experts from the All The Elements community to share their insights and this year is no different. Learn a little more about the facilitators we have joining us below.
We know that everyone joining the event has knowledge to share and their own expertise to bring. That’s why all the sessions we run are workshop based to encourage peer-to-peer learning. We also recognise the value of this contribution and a daily rate is paid to all attendees.
If you’re joining us there we can’t wait to welcome you! If not don’t worry we’ll be sharing learnings and insights from the sessions after the event. Sign up to our newsletter to make sure you don’t miss them.
The Outdoor Connection 2025 is a partnership event brought to you by All the Elements, and YHA (England & Wales) as part of their Outdoor Citizens initiative. Supported by Sport England, Cotswold Outdoor, The Pilgrim Trust, Natural England, Komoot, Landscape Wales and Campaign for National Parks.
Our 2025 Facilitators
Ife Akinroyeje (she/her)
Ife Akinroyeje, founded Wanderers of Colour in 2016 to increase access to the outdoors and travel for people of colour. Ife is a multifaceted individual with a deep commitment to social justice, the outdoors, and community building. As a Community Engagement Manager and researcher, Ife’s work focuses on themes including racial justice, community, feminism, employment, housing, gender, and sexuality. Ife is also the trustee and co-founder of Health Pioneers, a charity that empowers young people to shape the health of their communities by improving their environment, providing a platform to cultivate and voice their ideas, ensuring representation and equipping them with the tools to make the change needed.
Ife is joining us as facilitator co-ordinator, she’ll also be leading the plenary panel session: Partnerships 101: How to identify, approach, and engage partners.
Leanne Anyinsah (she/her)
Leanne is a psychotherapist and founding director of Soul Trail Wellbeing - a non profit providing nature based mental health support to underrepresented communities in Bristol & South Wales. She has a diverse background of working within mental health with over 12 years of experience including; Group therapist for survivors of abuse; Police Hostage and Crisis negotiator; Mental Health and Trauma Risk manager for Fire service; Victim and Witness Care officer - police safeguarding; Mental health first aid instructor and 999 call operator
Leanne will bring her lived and work experience to this workshop sharing tools on how to prioritise mental health within the work place.
Leanne is joining us to run a session on: Creating a ‘mental health first community culture.
Maymana Arefin (she/they)
Maymana Arefin is a community organiser, gardener, artist and writer. In 2020, Maymana founded @fungi.futures, a space to map radical alternative futures guided by her joy and passion for fungi. Through leading nature immersions, plant and fungi walks, her work focuses on deep rest and healing and restoring our communion with our non-human kin.
Maymana’s award-winning research on how the mycelium networks of fungi may be used as a metaphor for mutual aid seeks to re-imagine an unjust world through a politics of hope. Recent publications include: On Fungal Dreams of Liberation (Wasafiri, 2024), an exploration of how fungi and decomposition can inspire abolitionist futures, and The Ways of The Underground (Skin Deep, 2025), a piece about crip-centred, grassroots organising.
Maymana is joining us to run the session Mushrooms: foraging and mycelium connection and a Networking Activity.
Jeng Au (they/them)
Jeng (like Jenga without the A) is a London-based creative art director/ graphic designer/ cultural curator/ event producer/ community builder/ workshop facilitator/ maker/ ideas person/ problem solver/ listener/ learner/ bread baker/ mushroom grower/ title hoarder/ they/ them/ taurus. They are also co-founder of Camp Trans CIC festival, organiser of Trans Sauna, and committee member of Wanderers of Colour.
Join Jeng for a workshop exploring mark-making through DIY brushes and printing. We will be using natural materials such as leaves, twigs, grass, and more, and ink/paint. This will be a relaxing drop-in workshop for anyone to enjoy.
Jeng is joining us to run a Creative Nature Networking Activity.
Ellen Edenbrow (they/them)
Ellen partners with organisations across the public, private, and charity sectors, providing training, workshops and consultancy to support inclusion goals.
Known for creating safe, authentic spaces, Ellen makes complex or sensitive topics more approachable. Their work includes embedding EDI initiatives, culture training, policy development and workshop facilitation. With warmth and clarity, Ellen helps reduce fear around inclusion, empowering teams to create meaningful change. Whether you're just beginning or tackling deeper challenges, Ellen brings energy, insight, and reassurance to drive real progress.
Ellen is joining us to run a session on Creating safe spaces: from policy to practice.
Helen Gough (she/her)
Helen Gough is the founder and director of The Elemental Challenge Award (a bit like DofE for grown-ups) but at The Outdoor Connection she will be attending as a Trustee of Kitsquad - a charity that helps individuals and families to have adventures by providing outdoor kit and clothing to those on means tested benefits.
Helen has a wide variety of jobs from social housing to Red Cross Emergency response, Outdoor Leader and International Development. She brings all of these skills to her trustee role in Kitsquad, supporting growth and development and also ensuring good governance. All of her roles have been about removing barriers and Kitsquad is no different – their goal is to help as many people on benefits as possible to experience the outdoors.
Helen is joining us for our plenary panel session: Partnerships 101: How to identify, approach, and engage partners.
Anthony Hammond (he/him)
Anthony Hammond is a Staffordshire based artist, sculptor and crafts person specialising in the field of 'green wood' (unseasoned wood).
Anthony has over 30 years experience of producing large scale public artworks from timber, willow and coppice materials. working with a wide variety of community organisations and private clients to help realise their creative project ideas.
Anthony is joining us to bring their creative experience to a Willow Weaving Creative Nature Networking Activity.
Zaynab Jogi (she/her)
Zaynab has over 10 years of experience in mentoring, martial arts, and teaching physical exercise. She also supports individuals through meditation, life coaching, and mental health guidance.
She founded ZS Defence Academy, a charity dedicated to inspiring women to become physically active and to prioritise their mental and emotional well-being.
Her passion for pushing boundaries has also led her to climb mountains across the UK and internationally, including summiting Mount Kilimanjaro. This journey helped her achieve two Guinness World Records, making her the only Muslim in the UK to accomplish this feat.
Zaynab has recieved multiple awards and has been featured by the BBC, ITV, and the Lancashire Telegraph for her work. As well as collaborating on research projects with UCLan University.
Zaynab is joining us to run the Saturday morning activity Meditation & Stretching (Energise).
Mimi Jones (they/he)
Mimi Jones is a disabled, multiply neurodivergent entrepreneur and freelancer with a focus on community building, and writing. They set up Queer Out Loud CIC in 2022 in response to the discomfort they saw when people were trying to share their lived experience at performance nights. Since then, it has grown into a support network for queer people across the South West, providing a space for people to simply be, free mobility aids and gender affirming care, and opportunities to socialise in alternative ways.
They are also a director of NeuDICE CIC, and support Ethical Activities.
Mimi used to be an avid hiker, wild swimmer, and kayaker. While supporting others to consider accessibility and how to best serve disabled participants, they are also discovering new ways of making adventure accessible to themselves again.
Mimi is joining us to support the session: Think Disability: first steps from sign up to delivery.
Katy O'Neill Gutierrez (she/her)
Katy is an experienced facilitator and community organiser, keen to support others to make a positive difference in their local worlds. She founded Blaze Trails CIC, the UK’s parent and baby walking community - improving postnatal mental health and reducing loneliness through free peer-led walks. As a new parent seeking connection, she started a local walking group that’s rapidly grown into a national community of 21,500+ parents, 80+ free local groups and 120+ volunteer organisers.
Katy brings together passion and honesty about the rollercoaster of being an accidental founder, practical tips for - and an eagerness to learn from - others in a similar boat, and 15+ years of wider frontline charity experience in community engagement, research and systems change.
Katy is joining us to run the session Growing together: how people can help you scale your impact.
Monique Powell (she/her)
Monique, is the founder of Trekkers UK. As a qualified Psychotherapist with over 10 years of experience in mental health, she is passionate about the transformative power of nature and its role in promoting mental, physical, and social wellness.
Her journey has led her to merge the benefits of nature connection with therapeutic practices to support overall well-being for the global majority. She focuses on increasing access to green spaces as well as providing culturally sensitive interventions like mindfulness & talking therapy...but in the outdoors! Whether it’s a guided walk or a group therapy session, her vision is to create a space where people can benefit from nature's healing power in a culturally attuned way.
Monique is joining us to run the Friday night activity: Meditation.
Lorna Stoddart (she/her)
Lorna Stoddart is a coach and facilitator whose work focuses on developing awareness of self, others and the natural world in creative ways. Lorna has over 20 years’ experience supporting individuals and groups in knowledge sharing and discovery rooted in positive psychology, producing supportive and self-sustaining communities.
Lorna is currently working with a variety of groups and individuals across the Staffordshire Moorlands via Waymaking, an OUTSIDE outdoor arts project that provides a green and creative prescription to seldom seen, seldom heard people who experience multiple barriers to accessing green, wild landscapes.
Lorna also co-Directs Greenwood Growth CIC, a small and mighty peripatetic Forest School utilising public access spaces for play, discovery, nature connectivity and community.
Lorna is joining us to run a Willow Weaving Creative Nature Networking Activity.
Frit Tam (he/him)
Frit Tam is a British Chinese, award-winning documentary filmmaker, speaker, zine-maker, writer, somatic healer and futurist.
He is also co-director of Sheffield Adventure Film Festival and potato is his favourite food. He is qualified in a form of somatics called Focalising, and specialises in holding spaces for underrepresented communities.
Frit is joining us at The Outdoor Connection as wellbeing support. Whether you need someone to talk to, have a concern about the event or need help connecting to another attendee - please reach out to Frit and he’ll be there to help or listen.
Mache Treviño (she/her)
Mache is a nature lover and endlessly curious explorer, deeply interested in experiential education, outdoor learning, peacebuilding, social justice and social change. She has worked in diverse community development programs with youth, women, people with disabilities and local leaders for over 20 years.
After studying a BSc in Psychology and an MA in Human Development in Mexico, Mache and her partner, Mariana, moved to the UK in 2021 where she completed a second MA in Outdoor and Experiential Learning. She is the current Programme Manager for the MA in Outdoor Education at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, looking for creative ways to innovate in education and expand outdoor practices through inclusivity, decolonisation and critical perspective
Mache is joining us to run the session: What makes a good community leader?
Marie Uri (she/her)
Marie Uri is one the 3 directors at United We Climb (UWC), leading community outreach to make climbing more inclusive and diverse. London based and a member of the Marylebone Mountaineering Club, Marie is a strategic partner of Arc'teryx and collaborates with groups like Opening Up the Outdoors (OUTO) to break down barriers in climbing. Marie works with climbing walls to address access, systemic racism, and stereotypes, and speaks on these issues at events like Kendal Mountain Festival, BMC, and ABC. She serves as Diversity Officer for the Women Bouldering Festival in Fontainebleau and is part of the Alpine Heart diversity team in Switzerland. Driven by passion and equity, she is also training to become a certified Rock Climbing Instructor.
Marie is joining us for our plenary panel session: Partnerships 101: How to identify, approach, and engage partners.
Stu Watson (they/she)
Stu Watson is an outdoor adventurer and social enterprise leader, with a focus on supporting neurodivergent people. Working in this field since they were 16, they were first interested in it due to the sensory and social freedom the outdoors gave them. They set up Ethical Activities CIC in 2021 with their business partner, Tom Foster, to support others to gain qualifications, improve their physical and mental health as part of nature, and to feel seen.
While trying to get support as neurodivergent entrepreneurs, they noticed the total lack in experience and understanding from business trainers. From this, Stu set up NeuDICE CIC, helping other entrepreneurs to meet their support needs, and for their businesses to thrive.
Along side this, Stu is a visiting Lecturer, leading Business and Outdoor Adventure Education modules at Marjon University.
Stu is joining us to run the session: Think Disability: first steps from sign up to delivery.
Nadia Weigh (she/her)
Nadia is a community leader, facilitator and outdoor enthusiast passionate about creating safer, more inclusive spaces outside. She leads Adventure Queens, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation that aims to smash down barriers stopping women from going on outdoor adventures. With a background in community organising and a love of walking, kayaking, camping, and wild places, she’s particularly interested in practical ways we can all help make the outdoors feel more accessible and welcoming—especially after dark—and how collective action, shared experience and visibility can help shift who feels safe outside, when, and why. She believes in the power of people coming together to reclaim space, build confidence, and challenge norms—one step at a time.
Nadia is joining us to run the Friday evening activity: Sunset reclaim the night walk and reflection.
Sunita Welch (she/her)
Sunita has been working in the people-environment sector for over 25 years. Her main focus has always been on working in the space where people and the environment intersect. She’s worked both in the US and the UK with a wide spread of audiences, and in National Parks/Protected Landscapes. She is passionate about people benefiting from nature and about future generations being connected to nature and nature recovery.
She has worked in academia, for a UK National Parks and now for Natural England. In her current role in Natural England she leads on our work on Tackling Barriers to Nature, State of the Sector (with Wildlife and Countryside Link) and provides expertise on their equality, diversity and inclusion work. They also have current research underway on how connecting people with nature interacts with nature recovery.
Sunita is joining us for our plenary panel session: Partnerships 101: How to identify, approach, and engage partners.
Emily Williams (she/her)
Emily is a passionate campaigner and activist driven to bringing her local community together to address the climate emergency. As Bicycle Mayor of Inverness, where she champions cycling as a key solution to urban mobility and environmental sustainability. With a focus on inclusivity, she strives to make active travel accessible for women and children, ensuring safer, more sustainable options for all.
Emily’s work includes organising Kidical Mass protests, to demonstrate the desire for an inclusive and bike-friendly future for the city. As a cofounder of Every Body Outdoors, Emily works to promote outdoor activities and ensure that everyone, regardless of their size, has the opportunity to connect with nature.
Emily is joining us to run the session: How to embed climate awareness into your activities.
Yvonne Witter (she/her)
Yvonne is a Chair of Trustees at Peak District Mosaic, 2014 - present. She became a Mosaic Community Champion with Campaign for National Parks in 2008. This was the start of her mission to engage with communities, develop ideas and plan activities.
As an ambassador for the outdoors, she is passionate about encouraging and supporting others to access and enjoy the Peak District national park and surrounding countryside. She collaborates with groups and organisations to educate communities about the outdoors and improve access to the countryside.
Yvonne is joining us for our plenary panel session: Partnerships 101: How to identify, approach, and engage partners.
Our 2025 Content Team
Alongside our incredible facilitators we also have some incredible creatives joining us to capture content at the event.
Ben Ankobiah (he/him)
Ben is an ice climber, The North Face ambassador, and thrill seeker. Being born and raised in a city, as a teen he had no access to outdoor activities, but was still driven by a huge desire to go on adventures.
That strong drive to explore was the sparkle that made him choose to be an adventure photographer. Alongside his outdoor work Ben is also a wedding film maker and examples of his work can be found here.
Ben is joining us to make The Outdoor Connection 2025 film.
Veronica Melkonian (she/her)
Veronica Melkonian is a UK-based British-Armenian commerical outdoor photographer, specialising in adventure sport with a focus on climbing, and diversifying the outdoors.
As a second-generation immigrant with mixed heritage, she is interested in exploring the concept of identities through imagery and the ways in which we connect and layer these through our surrounding communities, lifestyles, homes and working life. She is passionate about supporting the growth of diversity and women’s sport and uses her camera to increase representation in the outdoors.
Veronica is joining us to capture photos of the event.
If you’re attending the event you can find further information about all the sessions and attendees in the Event Guide that has been emailed to you - If you’ve not received it please drop an email to hello@alltheelements.co
Information about The Outdoor Connection 2022 and 2024 can be found here.
