About us
Mission
We want to inspire and motivate people living in cities to mindful nature connection for health, well-being and sustainability.
Goals
We fulfill our mission through socially beneficial services aimed at promoting health and mental well-being, environmental protection and education in these areas.
Activities
We organize walks in municipal forests and parks aimed at promoting health and mental well-being. We prepare workshops and educational events related to the objectives of the association.
Time spent mindfully in the natural environment has a positive effect on physical and mental health and at the same time helps to restore the nature connection. There is a relationship between people’s emotional connection with nature and their pro-environmental behavior. »
We support the tree care in the city, tree planting and nature-based solutions for a sustainable urban environment.
Cooperation
We build intersectoral cooperation with stakeholders in the fields of psychology, education, environmental protection, local communities, urban planning and local government.
Our team
Alena Valkova
Nature has always been close to me. I am thankful for that mainly to my family and the places where I grew up. In an environment surrounded by forests, a person has more opportunities to perceive how much we need nature. Later in life, wherever I lived, I looked for a part of the city with enough greenery to live in. I have come across many examples of how people often do not realize the value of trees at all. In today’s society, nature and its fragments are increasingly something that we use, consume, but pay little attention to.
My own experiences inspired me to found a civic association and develop activities that can be effective tools for coping with the challenges of today. I myself have had periods during which, in the fast pace of life, I forgot how essential it is to maintain balance and time to slow down. In nature, we have the opportunity to be quiet, take a break from a lot of information, endless to-do lists, and regenerate body and soul. I completed educational courses in order to gain professional skills and an overview of scientific knowledge in nature-based solutions. My involvement in the care of trees in the urban environment led me to the decision to expand my horizons in arboriculture.
I have many years of experience in financial management in several sectors. I worked in business sphere, for the institutions of the European Union in Brussels, regional self-government and non-profit organizations.
I am the chairperson of the civic association and at the same time I am a mother who cares about what kind of environment we leave to the next generations.
Certificates:
● Waldbaden Trainer
WALDWELT – Institut für Waldbaden, Graz, Rakúsko
● Slovak certified arborist
ISA Slovensko, Český svaz ochránců přírody – Arboristická akademie
Completed courses:
● Nature, Health and Well-being
European Centre for Environment and Human Health, University of Exeter
● Nature Connection Facilitation Specialist
Forest Therapy Hub, online course
● Forests for Human Health
FOREST EUROPE Austrian Research Centre for Forests, Vienna, AT
● Mindfulness based stress reduction
Mindful.sk, 8-week course Mindfulness-based stress reduction, SK
● Ecosystem approach to urban forestry
Arboricultural Association, UK
Cooperation
Simonne Vadurova
She studied biology and later psychology. She also worked in the civil association League for Mental Health as an office manager and project manager.
In her practice, she is dedicated to informal psychological education, supporting people in difficult life situations, in the process of self-discovery and self-realization, in building a healthy lifestyle, in practicing relaxation methods and nutritional counseling.
In the civic association Stromosvet, she works as a consultant in the field of healthy lifestyle with the connection of nature and its benefits for mental health. We also consulted with Sima on the preparation of our walks and workshops.
Stromosvet in media
Denník N
Rádio Regina Západ
Projekt City Nature Challenge zapája obyvateľov do spoznávania prírody v meste
Časopis Quark
Veda na dosah
Zapojte sa do globálnej výzvy City Nature Challenge a dokumentujte prírodu okolo seba
Useful links
Health and well-being
Environment
Hlavné mesto – Mestská zeleň
Mestské lesy v Bratislave
ISA Slovensko