Nature-Based Therapy (Ecotherapy)

Experience the Benefits of Nature-Based Therapy (Ecotherapy)

Nature is not just a place we go to, it is who we are. And when we reconnect with this part of ourselves, we can access the healing that comes from allowing nature to be a partner in the therapy process. More than walking and talking outside, ecotherapy is a stand-alone therapy and also enhances traditional therapy that can help you find additional support and connection with the natural world.

Reconnects Us with the Natural World

Rediscovering a sense of belonging to the world we inhabit is a critical part of emotional health. Through nature connection activities, we not only learn more about the natural world but we experience ourselves as belonging to it. If we are dealing with eco-anxiety or eco-grief, nature-based therapy can assist us in coping with these feelings and developing a more empowered and connected relationship with our earth.

Increases Nervous System Regulation

Learning to mindfully attend to the natural world around us and developing a “soft fascination” with the sensory experiences in nature can help regulate our nervous systems and improve our attentional focus. Combining mindfulness and ecotherapy is a powerful way to help us restore our emotional balance when we are stressed, burned out, and anxious. Therapy in an outdoor setting also offers a much larger space in which to experience difficult emotions, which often makes it much easier to cope with the emotions.

Supports us in the Grief Process

The outdoors offers opportunities to create meaningful rituals to move through the bereavement process. Nature provides daily reminders about the constant change that is part of life that can help us make meaning of the change and loss we experience.
Ecotherapy can also offer ways to reengage with life when we have withdrawn due to grief or depression. With a therapist, we can once again engage in self-care practices as well as activities that feel purposeful and even joyful, whether it is sitting and observing birds or falling leaves, going on a walk, or planting flowers.

Empowers Children

And what better place for a play therapy session than a park, garden, or playground, to give children all the space and materials they need to create, express, move and make meaning for themselves. Research suggests that children may benefit more than anyone else by attending ecotherapy. The outdoors offers opportunities for them to coregulate with nature and offers space for large muscle movement that makes processing difficult emotions easier. With ecotherapy, children also have the opportunity to create a positive attachment to the natural world and develop a sense of belonging that combats feelings of loneliness and alienation and encourages them to develop a caring and reciprocal relationship with the earth.

Set up a free phone call, text or email to learn how you can experience the benefits of ecotherapy.

Science is Beginning to Recognize the Benefits of Nature

Being outdoors is good for us:

Increased opportunities for movement
An increase in the production of vitamin D from the sun
The absorption of cancer-fighting chemicals produced by plants
The restorative properties of natural spaces on our cognitive function
The emotional and physical equilibrium achieved when we move through the natural world