Hayley Skipper

About

When Hayley attended CCL she was just at the cusp of a new job role, working with the Forestry Commission on their centenary project. This timing meant that her training at CCL was able to have significant influence on how she approached her work in new role. Hayley explains how the centenary project, which is being celebrated through a rich programme of events, projects, experiences and exhibitions, has three core themes it addresses: environment, wellbeing and resilience. These themes have put climate change stories at the heart of the centenary project, helping to address climate change issues in the context of forestry. Hayley examples one project taking place at the popular Chelsea Flower Show, called The Resilience Garden. This garden will specifically explore the climate change challenges facing forests.

Hayley traces a lot of her professional opportunities in recent years to her CCL experience, saying that the course ‘enabled me to do work that I wouldn’t have been able to do before. And I think that confidence has also contributed hugely to my personal kind of development . . . it was a very powerful experience’. Indeed, Hayley has recently been offered the opportunity to step into a new board level role within the Forestry Commission. She speaks passionately of how this new role will give her the opportunity to influence upon factors such as the sustainability strategies of the Forestry Commission.

Reflecting on her time at CCL, Hayley speaks of the supportive network that the course CCL course generated, voicing how she considers her cohort a group that she can draw support and advice from. More specifically, she says that CCL gave people a sense that there is a place in which creative climate voices can gather ‘to do their discourse and move things on’.