The Healing Powers of Nature

Modern life can feel dis-jointed, chaotic. Phones ding, screens flash. Our attention is pulled in every direction but the present. While technology has increased access to online therapies and digital wellness tools, we can forget our brains and bodies are one.

Somatic techniques, like box-breathing and meditation practices can calm a dysregulated nervous system. For folks with trauma histories, feeling the weight of memories and unexplained pains throughout the body, are common experiences. For trauma survivors, hypervigilance and fear are the norms for so long, the body adapts. For trauma survivors, a one-size approach to mental health care does not work. Trauma overwhelms. PTSD, and C-PTSD, a diagnosis given to those who’ve endured extended, repeated trauma, often during the developmental period, can manifest as a whole spectrum of moods and behaviors. Withdrawal. Avoidance. Anger. Dissociation.

One holistic approach to treating folks with trauma histories is ecotherapy. Defined broadly, ecotherapy is a modality that incorporates nature as an element of healing. This might look like going for a hike with a trained therapist. It might look like joining a meditative support group in nature.

Last fall, I attended the Peace in the Wild retreat through the Center for Nature Informed Therapy. The weekend involved nature journaling, forest bathing (a Japanese practice, done fully clothed for all who are wondering), and walking meditations. The Center for Nature Informed Therapy also provides training for mental health professionals, and folks in any field.

Beyond this, I volunteer for Philly Goat Project, a nonprofit community wellness program that encourages folks, especially families, to spend time in nature through walks with trained therapy goats. Philly Goat Project also maintains a grief garden that’s free and open to the public year-round at Awbury Arboretum. I’ve seen the anecdotal benefits of time in nature at Awbury. I’ve felt the benefits myself, with the Center for Nature Informed Therapy and in my own nature practices.

Ecotherapy can be a multi-faceted answer to trauma, a multi-faceted experience. For as many folks with trauma histories, there are trauma responses. Trauma symptoms can shapeshift. Yet, a unifying experience is often ruptures in attachment. For survivors of abuse during childhood, trusting in relationships as an adult can be challenging, to say the least. Yet, in order to heal from trauma, establishing healthy attachments can be crucial. For folks who struggle to fully trust, or attach, to a therapist, forming an attachment with nature can be revelatory.

Research

Emerging evidence suggests that clients may develop strong attachments with nature. Nature-informed therapy allows for full-sensory experiences and for clients to find comfort and safety in their bodies as it focuses on the present moment. Nature isn’t simply the setting, but rather a participant in ecotherapy for complex trauma. Trauma-informed ecotherapy interventions have shown to stabilize patients with hyper-aroused nervous systems. Patients in a German in-patient psychiatric unit described feeling safe when ecotherapy was added to their treatment plans. A sample of U.S. veterans similarly saw a lessening of emotional reactivity after participating in ecotherapy programming, specifically group ecotherapy.

A hospital in Germany found improvements in psychiatric patients’, ages 18-27, attachment styles, and overall sense of wellbeing after ecotherapy interventions were implemented. The researchers used depression and anxiety screeners to determine the interventions’ results. The interventions combined traditional group psychotherapy and gardening. Once a week, for four weeks, participants spent a structured hour in the garden, after listening to a poem chosen by clinicians on topics that emerged in group psychotherapy sessions. Participants reported feeling that the interventions were beneficial to their healing on follow-up surveys and that they felt more connected to the other patients. Depression and anxiety scores decreased after the interventions.

Beyond healing attachment wounds, ecotherapy can support folks’ capacity to pay attention. Spending time in nature offers a distinct pace from daily life. Nature allows us time to slow down, which in turn offers the nervous system an opportunity to regulate. Attention Restoration Theory (ART) demonstrates that exposure to greenspaces can lengthen attention spans and improves cognitive functioning.

Ecotherapy has shown to be effective when it comes to Attention Restoration Therapy, particularly with veterans. Veterans, as a population, experience high rates of PTSD. While veterans experience PTSD and related mental health challenges, the population is less likely to seek help due to stigma. However, ecotherapy is seen as alternative to seeking help in an austere medical setting, and therefore possibly more appealing. In Duvall et al.’s study, 98 veterans participated in 4-7 day ecotherapy program funded through the Siera Club’s Military Families and Veterans Initiative. The researchers analyzed attention refocusing with surveys conducted one week before programming, one week after, and one month after. The results indicated that social functioning and life outlook improved, as well as psychological well-being. Veterans with “daily health issues” benefited the most from the program.

In a Danish study, ecotherapy similarly proved beneficial for veterans diagnosed with PTSD. Eight veterans participated in a ten-week ecotherapy program at the University of Copenhagen’s Forest Therapy Garden. Interventions included yoga in nature, wood-splitting and tree planting. Veterans expressed appreciation for the self-directed programming as it fostered autonomy and allowed for the participants to regain feelings of agency. The programming fostered both strengthened attachments between the veterans and nature, and notably encouraged connections between the veterans. A striking example of this is that initially the veterans found comfort in isolation in the garden, but over the course of the ten weeks, chose to be near one another during meditative moments.

 Accessing Ecotherapists and Practices

There are challenges to studying ecotherapy as a modality for folks with trauma histories. Indeed, as ecotherapy is an emerging field, there is no one treatment manual. While this makes the practice dynamic and adaptable, it also means there’s less oversight for clinicians. There have been instances of severe harm caused by wilderness therapy, which is encompassed in ecotherapy.

Similarly, standardizing a definition for people who’ve experienced prolonged trauma, either by including C-PTSD in the DSM in the U.S., or by strengthening language for existing diagnosis, is important for studying emerging trauma-informed interventions. It is important to note that C-PTSD is in the ICD-11, which has led to more international research on ecotherapy and C-PTSD.

How can treatments for a disorder be developed, if the disorder itself is contentious? The nature of compounded trauma renders research difficult. In a study examining AAT on survivors of sex-trafficking, the authors notes “It is unclear if the traumatic experience of being trafficked resulted in mental health symptoms or exacerbated underlying pre-dispositions.” This gives a snapshot into the challenges of determining where to start in both defining traumatic experiences clinically, and developing treatment interventions.

No one should feel alone in their experiences. Survivors of harm deserve equitable, holistic treatments. Studying ways to best meet the needs of those with trauma histories is vital. I believe in the power of nature to heal. I believe in the power of community to create spaces for healing and give voice to those marginalized by injustices. Ecotherapy shows promise as opportunities for folks to connect, to mourn, to form healthy attachments, to be creative and genuine, and connect with what matters to them. I am hopeful after analyzing ways that researchers and practitioners are implementing ecotherapy practices in rural communities, towns and cities across the world.