A year ago a group started talking about the crisis making forestry workers miserable and in some cases taking the lives of friends and colleagues. They didn’t have evidence or data, and they didn’t know how to stop the problem. Make no mistake, our people were dying.

In this episode, Elle McAllister brings back Nick Adams (Forester & Forestry Contracting Association) and Iwan Lloyd-Williams MICFor (Forester & DPJ Foundation volunteer), as well as Toby Allen (Co-Owner of Say It With Wood alongside Aly May) and RFS CEO Chris Williams to reflect back on what has been done, what we’ve learnt, and how much more there is to come.

⚠️ This episode contains strong language and sensitive discussions around mental health and suicide. Listener discretion advised.

Tune in, join the conversation, and subscribe now!

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Find us at APF 2026 (24-26th Sept) including two panels at Forest Workers Zone discussing mental health Thursday & Friday. The Royal Forestry Society will also be asking the public about a toolkit under development.

Learn more: ⁠Mental Health & Wellbeing in Forestry⁠

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Finding Support

For anyone impacted by this discussion, please see the links to support organisations and resources included below. If you are struggling, please reach out to someone you trust, or one of the links below. If you are in crisis, please call 999.

• ⁠⁠Stay Alive App⁠: Essential suicide prevention for everyday life
• ⁠The DPJ Foundation⁠: The mental health farming charity
• ⁠FISA Safety Library⁠
• ⁠Samaritans⁠:Providing emotional support to anyone (Call 116 123)
• ⁠Mind⁠: The mental health charity (Call 0300 102 1234 Mon - Fri 9am - 6pm)
• ⁠Shout⁠ (Text SHOUT to 85258)
• ⁠Papyrus⁠: Prevention of young suicide (Call Hopeline247: 0800 068 41 41)

Can art change the way we see trees? In this episode we explore the powerful relationship between art, science and woodland conservation, as well as how artists help us notice what often goes unseen.

Annabel Narayanan, director of Action Oak, hosts Tim Craven, founder of The Arborealists, and Ersin Han Ersin, director of Marshmallow Laser Feast, and discuss the breadth of art from traditional landscape painting to immersive digital installations and how artists have helped protect treasured woodlands.

Tune in, join the conversation, and subscribe now!

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Learn more in the ⁠Gone Foresting show notes ⁠including links to more about The Arborealists, Marshmallow Laser Feast, as well as the work of Action Oak to protect our native oaks.

Women have always been part of forestry, but their stories are often missing from the history books. This episode explores the overlooked legacy of the thousands who served in the Women's Timber Corps, known as “Lumberjills”.

Elle McAllister is joined by a passionate advocate, Joanna Foat, working to ensure these stories are not forgotten, uncovering the contributions of past generations, and highlighting why they still matter today.

Tune in, join the conversation, and subscribe now!

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Learn more in the Gone Foresting show notes as well as Joanna Foat's Lumberjills history books and novels.

Get Involved!

If you have been inspired, encouraged, or taught by an amazing women in forestry we'd love to hear from you. Your contribution will become part of an RFS digital archive of women in forestry history—helping to honour those who came before us, preserve rural and women’s stories, and inspire future generations to follow in their footsteps.

Head to the RFS website for more information.

Related events:

• ⁠Women in Forestry, Leicestershire, 7th October 2026
• Forestry England New Forest Exhibition, 3rd July - 17th August 2026