CTA 027 - Laura Owen Sanderson discusses combining her passions for wild swimming and environmental research

Laura describes herself as a wild swimmer, ‘waterlogger’, adventurer, environmentalist, company director, artist and a mum – sounds like an awesome job description to us!She wasn’t always a passionate advocate of wild swimming though. In her previous life, she worked in a senior position in teacher training in Llandudno. It was a very busy and stressful career that eventually led to burn-out and Laura becoming extremely unwell with fibromyalgia, even needing a full blood transfusion at one point.To help relieve her stiff joints a doctor suggested taking cold baths, which didn’t really appeal to Laura. She took her treatment into her own hands by swimming in the nearby sea and noticed it had a positive effect on her symptoms.Laura soon became hooked on wild swimming, loving the sense of freedom and the beauty of her surroundings. Eager to help others experience this, she founded We Swim Wild, a not-for-profit that promotes open water swimming coupled with environmentalism.Laura has taken part in various environmental research projects and is currently partnering with Bangor University, collecting water samples from the UK’s National Parks for testing for the presence of microplastics.Listen in as she discusses burnout, her recent ADHD diagnosis and the importance of protecting what you love.