Andy Wasley
News
The Mind and the Great Outdoors
Monday, 13 May, 2024Articulating the joyous sense of adventure and discovery is something we often find challenging, but BSU MA Travel and Nature Writing Graduate Andy Wasley has been perfecting this art for over a decade.
A multi-disciplined talent, covering all aspects of travel writing, photography and videography, Andy took a further leap into his passions when he enrolled onto the MA Travel and Nature Writing course at Bath Spa University.
“When I found out about the MA, it just seemed to be a really good opportunity to deepen my practice and spend a couple of years investing in my awareness of outdoor writing generally. It was also an excuse to do a lot of reading around the subject, but my big hope was to pick up more professional skills. I wanted to be on a course that was going to help me to expand my career portfolio.”
Andy started his MA in 2021, with the years following set to take him on a personal and professional journey that aptly reflected the challenging terrain experienced on many of his adventures in the great outdoors.
“Writing and the outdoors have both done a lot for me in terms of my mental health. For my whole life I’ve had struggles with depression and both writing and the outdoors had always been helpful. I'm always very careful to say that they are not therapy, but they absolutely can be therapeutic.
In 2022, I did The Cape Wrath Trail in Scotland and I picked that as one of the outdoor experiences that I needed to do as part of my MA. It was important to me for all sorts of reasons but it kind of led me back into therapy as well because it'd been such a such an emotional experience, and through that bout of therapy was what led me into a diagnosis of ADHD.”
As Andy reflects in his moving piece for Adventure.com, his experiences in Scotland unlocked an emotional part of himself that he hadn’t been in touch with for years.
His ADHD diagnosis allowed him to make sense of difficulties he had experienced throughout his life, with this revelation arising during his time on the MA course. Andy credits his tutors Stephen Moss, Gail Simmons and Jonathan Lorie with supporting him as he started treatment for the disorder.
“It’s incredibly important for me to acknowledge just how much help Stephen, Gail, Jon and Bath Spa gave me at that time. Finding out you’re neurodivergent at the age of 41 has such a mix of feelings. There's a feeling of fulfilment and understanding and self-worth. On the other hand, having your eyes opened to the struggles that you have can leave you feeling a bit incapable.”
Andy continued:
"What the course did was give me a break and offered me space. I had extensions on projects and Stephen, Gail and Jon were just absolutely phenomenal in terms of how supportive they were. They helped me understand that it's not just about fitting in with other people, it's about understanding that to be the best writer I can be, I have to understand these things and the way my brain works.
Without those 3 tutors and the support of Bath Spa University, I don’t think that I would really have a sense that I could make it in this industry.”
Andy’s journey at BSU traversed far more than the deepening of his practice, with the course itself offering an outlet to explore his emotions and passions.
Andy also credits the course with enabling him to travel to Sweden for a three-week hike through the Arctic Circle – a professional goal that came with magazine commissions and a chance to work with Visit Sweden and the Swedish Tourist Association.
“In all the years I’ve been writing about travel, it’s often been as a result of trips I’ve funded myself – but to make a living in travel journalism, you have to be able to cut costs and work with brands. I wanted to write about the Kungsleden, a huge hike in northern Sweden, and Jon encouraged me to write to Visit Sweden to ask them to help with my costs – which they did. Professionally and personally, Sweden was a huge step forward. This is what you get from being on a course led by genuine travel journalism experts.”
Looking ahead, Andy’s impressive career in the world of writing and photography is only set to continue, with more major projects on the horizon.
“The Master’s has given me a lot more confidence to write biographically. I'm working on a memoir at the moment which will look at all of these things. The course gave me the opportunity to explore what other writers have gained from the outdoors and really engage with their work. In that sense, the course was invaluable for me.”
Reflecting on a poignant part of his life, Andy also offered some advice to other students that might be struggling with their mental health, or who simply need time to breathe.
“Sometimes life and mental health just get in the way. The best way to get through is to talk to your tutors because they've got your back. Tutors have no interest in seeing people fail or seeing them struggle.”
Bath Spa University offers a wide range of wellbeing services to support students through times of struggle, available 24/7.