Experience Ecotherapy

How do I do ecotherapy?

I usually work with groups (but not exclusively). It is important at the start to get us all physically relaxed, releasing tensions but more importantly getting people in touch with their bodies. Our bodies are part of nature and so it is a way of beginning the process of connecting. I remind people that we are made of the same stuff as the rest of nature. Our bodies are up to 70% water and the clean water we drink has been circulating through life forms for millions of years, likewise the food we eat, and our breath comes courtesy of all the plants around us. Being in touch with our physical self also brings us into the present. It is from the full experience of the present that we can open up our senses and increase our contact with nature around us.

To further increase that sense of being in the now I do breathing exercises based on meditation. I also encourage people to let go of memories of what has happened that day and what they imagine might occur later; to let go and enjoy being wherever they are.

From ego to eco

I am guiding people away from ego to eco, the bigger world that is alive around them. In this process some people can have a profound sense of being connected to nature at a deep level. The healing thoughts can come from a realisation that we, humans and animals and plants, share the same fundamental qualities: we are born and we will one day die, we live and deal with good and bad times, we are wounded and we heal. It is possible to break out of our isolated self and recognise we participate in a wider ecological self where matter, air and social connections pass through us continuously.

I remind everyone to stay with the open relaxed state we are in as we move off on a leisurely walk through grassland and woods, open and intimate greenery. In winter maybe we go and feed the ducks, in summer we listen to birdsong. I encourage sensory openness' to smells and sounds which further takes people away from their possible preoccupation with self.

Wild Nature

At the core of ecotherapy is the combination of increased awareness of the present and immersion in wild nature. Recovery is often spoken of in terms of changing thoughts and feelings in order to live a happier more positive life. CBT and counselling are two of the methods used for achieving this. I think this is fine and I'm interested in something different. If a person can put aside for a moment their internal dialogue and imaginings of what might happen and begin to pay full attention to what is happening in the present then they can open up to a different way of seeing. If this different way of seeing, attending to the world, is done in nature then the work of ecotherapy can begin. There is a quality of experience that is different when people connect to nature as opposed to human made environments. In wild nature we are surrounded by other living things which grow of their own volition according to their own character; they face similar challenges of survival, and have a beauty we are drawn to.

Sharing the experience

Participating in a group enlarges the experience. We can chat, get to know other people and share our wonderment. If you just want to be on your own in nature that's fine too, the permissive atmosphere allows for many choices. And for those who are uncertain of others a group walk allows you to chose your distance and how much you want to get involved or not.

My invitation to you is to put a bit of eco in to your life (and prevention of stress) by shaking off city life for a bit and reconnecting with life around you, listen to the woods singing.

Working with mental health service users

2 hour weekly ecotherapy sessions with acute patients in a psychiatric hospital using the hospital grounds.

Comment by a ward manager: "This is just what the patients need, I am very pleased that you are doing this work."

Occupational Therapist's comment: "Those three men are on suicide watch, look at them talking together on the walk now, you wouldn't think it. This work is very important for patients, it enables them to get out of their negative internal dialogue."

2 hour weekly ecotherapy sessions with service users in the community using a local country park.

Running a 'Fit and Green' programme of regular weekly, half day sessions with service users doing conservation work.

Training and development, including mentoring

- Running training days for mental health staff (counsellors, nurses,therapists, psychiatrists and support workers) on ecotherapy and how to use it in their work.

- A programme working alongside an occupational therapist using a therapeutic garden.

- A programme of mentoring an occupational therapist who wanted to use ecotherapy with early dementia clients.

- Training and supporting the park ranger team of a London borough to develop their own ecotherapy based activities called Explore, Discover, Unwind. Aimed at the general public the intention was to provide a preventative programme of stress reduction and mood enhancement. The 2 hour sessions were part of a wider programme of activities offered in all the parks.

- Supporting a psychologist on a project which targeted isolated men over 50, and included an allotment day.

- Supporting a psychologist working with young people with psychosis to offer walking sessions.

- Collaboration with art therapists on the use of nature for therapeutic purposes.

- Students have been accepted on placements to learn how to provide ecotherapy and to conduct small scale research.

- Working with a university to provide a clinical placement for a third year doctoral clinical psychology trainee.

Member of the Public

"I appreciated the water light exercise; I also especially liked feeling different textures under my bare feet; I liked sitting in the woods under the shade ; touching the big tree and imagining what it was like years ago. Because all of these bought me more in touch with nature. Sitting among the long grass, taking in all around us from the insects to the view. I felt very relaxed and ideas came to me. Thank you for a beautiful day. I learnt so much, I have gained ideas as to a way forward in my life. It was a tonic!

I managed to get in touch with my inner peace which has been missing for a long time since childhood. Laying down in the grass relaxing – it got me thinking/feeling the same way I used to as a child when everything was easy."

Occupational Therapist

"The environment was therapeutic, calming, it had a relaxing effect. They (the mental health service users) enjoyed the peace and tranquillity, felt calmer. Susan liked the physical aspect, she liked walking. The physical exercise helped, they went away feeling brighter. I noticed their mood was better."

"They had a choice about socialising or not. It was less formal than a meeting or group session."

Mental Health Service User

"Ecotherapy has helped ease my depression. Even if I didn't feel low I would still come on these walks. It is so relaxing and stepping back from the hustle and bustle of a town, appreciating woodland, is something everyone should do."

Park Manager

"Over the course of 6 months Andy led structured training sessions with seven members of the Ranger Team that covered the creation, design, marketing and evaluation of eco-therapy inspired walks. This training was remarkably motivational and inspiring with each ranger coming away with the confidence, skills and enthusiasm needed to successfully lead their own walks.

The training culminated in the launch of a new series of ranger led events across five green spaces in the borough called 'Explore, Discover, Unwind'. "