“I’ve always been drawn to the environment to indigenous culture, a connection to country” Suzy tells me. “It embodies more than just living in the country. We are connected to that land and we impact the land in what we do and how we do it”. Suzy speaks with a reverential appreciation that underpins all that she has done, is doing and will do in what she describes as a mosaic, portfolio career. In one of her core next chapter focus projects, Suzy has founded Two Green Threads, a NFP that cares for the carers of our wildlife, a significant and much-needed entity.

Show Notes

• I fell into this work really. I saw wildlife hurt on the road and when I went to a country show and came across a wildlife group who rescue, rehabilitate, and release. I signed up for an orientation course on the spot.
• Within 3 months I was juggling my daytime work and caring for wildlife. It delivered a fair bit of stress but I loved it.

• It feels like a privilege to care for animals, you need to adopt a stillness no matter what is happening around you. You detach from the frantic spinning of the human world and experience a connection with a little being.

• The intense connection with the wildlife is beautiful, but there was no conversation about the demands and the personal impact of the work, a consuming and emotional experience.

• It took a number of years for me to be able to recognise and articulate what the problem was. It was my personal experience with my father’s mental instability, the fragility of the mind, that finally allowed me to decide to take action.

• Two Green Threads is a national registered charity that offers wildlife carers understanding and acknowledgment along with a respectful and neutral shared language. It encompasses podcasts, webinars, PDF downloads, and will soon have courses rolling out.

• Even though I could see and feel and had experienced the need, I still felt like an imposter when I addressed it. I was asking myself “is this what I am supposed to be doing? Is it simply grief distraction?”.

• I bought myself a set of bracelets that had the inscription “but what if I fly?”, a powerful statement to bring me back, to anchor myself if I ever felt doubt.

Suzy Nethercott-Watson Suzy is an experienced Non-Executive Director with a strong reputation for insight, strategy and value adding and the Founder of charity, Two Green Threads. She has a vision to make a positive difference in the lives of wildlife carers at a critical point in time for wildlife conservation and natural ecosystems. www.twogreenthreads.org