Abstract
This chapter reintroduces the alignment of psychological wellbeing with eudemonic aspects of feeling good—the positive functioning of the individual and the agency and control they have in shaping environments, material and social for their purposes. It first explores a case study of young students with learning and physical disability coppicing woodland at a further education college. Students appeared to benefit from the establishment of a sociocultural and natural environment supportive of shared, purposeful activity and feelings of positive functioning. The second case study discusses girls taking on practical forestry tasks and again the benefits of establishing a microculture supportive of them recognising and feeling good about their abilities and capacity. Ideas of cultural density and lightness are explored, using the case study evidence, and their potential to support or prevent access to wellbeing.
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Goodenough, A., Waite, S. (2020). Natural Sources of Psychological Wellbeing. In: Wellbeing from Woodland. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32629-6_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-32629-6_7
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