Throughout the year, we profile care professionals who have joined the sector after a career change—proof that it really is never too late to care! This month, we meet Chris Simpson – once a bouncer, bookmaker and pawnbroker – now Community Development Specialist at Community Integrated Care, a charity that supports people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
Like many people, Chris was initially unsure of his calling. However, he always knew that he wanted to make a difference to people’s lives and his community. Motivated by that passion, in 2017 he took a remarkable career change to work in social care for the Aberdeen-based charity Inspire.
He quickly discovered a real sense of vocation and creativity – becoming a community development specialist for the charity. Building an incredible portfolio of programmes including social clubs, drama groups and wellbeing groups, he found novel and innovative ways to change lives.
This was taken new levels when Inspire became part of the national social care charity, Community Integrated Care in 2024. As part of a much bigger charity, he has been able to flex his creativity and passion for impact, as a member of their unique Partnerships and Communities team – working with leading organisations to create programmes that tackle inequalities for people who draw on care and support.
In this new role, Chris has been leading the roll-out of Community Integrated Care’s ‘Save Our Wild Isles’ programme in the North-east of Scotland – an area where it delivers over one million hours of care a year.
With support from partners including the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, (RSPB), World Wide Fund for Nature, (WWF), and the National Trust, the groundbreaking initiative, inspired by Sir David Attenborough’s acclaimed BBC ‘Wild Isles’ documentary series, won the prestigious Care Innovator accolade at the Great North East & Scotland Care Awards last year.
The programme was recognised for its ability to empower individuals to connect with nature, through accessible and creative experiences that highlight the sensory and physical benefits of the natural environment to all, irrespective of levels of mobility or support needs.
Chris believes that nature is a universal pleasure – a source of connection that we can all share, regardless of our personality, needs or ability to communicate using words. Through the implementation of these nature-based, sensory programmes he is proud to be enhancing the wellbeing of local adults with support needs, combating social isolation and loneliness, addressing health inequalities and improving mental health.
Central to the ‘Wild Isles’ initiative has been the creation of free toolkits and training resources, designed to enable the social care sector to develop low-cost sensory gardens, engage in nature walks and participate in sensory-rich games and activities. This year, Chris is driving the programme forward locally – changing hundreds of lives.
By supporting services to create sensory gardens at affordable prices, instead of thousands of pounds, and promoting sensory stimulation by connecting with the sights, sounds, smells and experiences of the nature around them, these programmes are transforming the wellbeing of people who have complex needs.
Chris is understandably passionate about the positive impact the initiative is having on participants’ wellbeing and wants as many people as possible to benefit from it. As a result, all of the accessible resources and toolkits are freely available on Community Integrated Care’s website – www.communityintegratedcare.co.uk/nature. They have already been downloaded by hundreds of organisations, impacting tens of thousands of people.
He points to the programme’s track record of fostering a deeper connection between people in care and the natural world, and the improvements that have been made to outdoor spaces, and indeed local communities. Importantly, this programme makes an impact on the planet as well as on people, enabling gardens in social care services to not only promote sensory wellbeing but also the sustainability of pollinators and wildlife – changing lives and supporting nature.
