I’m really pleased to have taken part in the mentoring scheme with Dave. I’ve gained so much knowledge and also learned to look at things in the smallest detail as they often make a big difference. He has a very laid back style but pushes you to reach your potential and goals. My confidence has grown massively and before the mentoring scheme I wouldn’t have thought I’d be instructing. Working alongside Dave has provided me with many skills that I didn’t think I’d have.

I would highly recommend the mentoring scheme to anyone who has interest in bushcraft, outdoor learning or wishes to pursue a career as an instructor.

I have a background of providing outdoor based alternative education and Forest School, and I joined the mentoring scheme in part to deepen my Bushcraft knowledge and skills, but also as another step on my personal development journey.

The mentoring programme takes everything a stage further than the shorter courses, going deeper, not just into the skills, but also the perceptions and the why behind the skills. My understanding increased, and with it the confidence to teach others, but I also learnt a lot from Dave about how to read the field in terms of recognising and responding to where people are with their own skills and learning, and how to become a mentor myself. I observed and experienced the powerful de-stressing effects of using bushcraft skills such as foraging, cordage, creating and cooking with fire and saw how they sat very comfortably alongside my training as a forest therapy guide.

I would recommend the mentoring programme to anyone who wants to extend their skills and knowledge; it helped give me the confidence to do something I had been thinking about for some time: in 2020 I set up a social enterprise. I regularly use the skills I gained from the bushcraft Mentoring Programme with the groups and individuals attending workshops and sessions.

As an outdoor education practitioner, I've been wanting to take my bushcraft skills to the next level as I felt that they had plateaued out, I needed something to push me to the next level. Dave Watson already had a great reputation as a bushcraft instructor and his Mentoring scheme not only has the flexibility to cover bushcraft skills that I wanted to choose for myself, but it also kept me accountable to make time in my own schedule to practice those skills and apply them to my sessions.

Dave is an excellent mentor, he is a patient teacher and doesn't just give you the answers but helps you come to your own conclusions so you understand the why behind the what.

The formal training (and continued support) I receive from Dave, has enabled me to not only greatly build on my own skillset but also to understand how to deliver these skills to a range of clients with differing needs and abilities. This has allowed our own outdoor education business to grow and improve the quality of what we're offering.