- Ecopsychology is the study of how nature impacts mental health and psychological and emotional wellbeing.
- Ecotherapy is applying the tools and techniques of ecopsychology in a therapeutic environment.
- The Green Care model is a diverse set of activities that use nature and nature-based activities as a form of behavioral health intervention.
- Ecotherapy is needed because disconnection from the natural world in which we evolved produces a variety of psychological symptoms that include anxiety, frustration, and depression. Reconnection to the natural world alleviates these symptoms.
- Parents have become fearful about their children playing outdoors, and children who grow up in primarily built environments often fear nature, largely because it is unfamiliar. Spending time in nature, preferably as a family, helps to alleviate this anxiety.
- Kellert (2002) said that a child’s direct and ongoing experience of accessible nature is an essential, critical, and irreplaceable dimension of healthy maturation and development.
- E. O. Wilson (1984) stated that there is a biologically based, inherent human need to affiliate with life and lifelike processes.
- All of the following are examples of ancestral healing systems that are at least 5000 years old and see being in nature as integral to healing, health, and wellbeing:
- Ayurvedic Medicine (the Indigenous Indian medical system)
- Tibetan Medicine
- Native American Medicine
- Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv (2005, updated in 2008) coined the term “Nature Deficit Disorder.”
- Types of ecotherapy include:
- Adventure Therapy
- Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI)
- Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT)
- Indigenous shamanic practices all over the world believed nature to be important and healing.
- Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) requires the use of trained animals and/or a trained therapist/facilitator. Animal Assisted Interventions (AAI) do not require a therapist or counselor.
- Looking after farm animals, growing crops or helping to manage woodlands and natural spaces is known as “care farming.”
- Young & Crandall (1984) have found that wilderness experiences improved a person’s sense of self-perception.
- Kellert (2002) found that cognitive, affective, and moral development is impacted significantly and positively by direct contact with nature.
- When asked to identify the most significant environment from their childhoods, 96.5 % of a broad sample of adults identified an outdoors environment (Sebba, 1991).
- The Eco-Educative Model (Pedretti-Burls, 2007) includes all of the following strategies:
- Reflecting on the activities and the associated metaphors
- Processing by sharing thoughts and reflections
- Applying the learning from the natural world to the personal everyday world
- Kim et al (2009) describe using mindfulness with Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) in a mindful walk through a forest before the CBT exercises. After studying this technique, the author concluded that the mindful state produced by this exercise improved depression rating scores, saw improved HRV and decreased salivary cortisol levels.
- Spending time outdoors improves all of the following:
- Decreases the effects of jet lag
- Increases life expectancy
- Provides opportunities for exercise
- Decreases BMI
- Milton Erickson helped a man to with alcohol addiction by giving him the “homework” task of contemplating the survival qualities of the cactus.
- Shaw (2000) researched childhood nature connections and trauma, and observed that nature itself was seen as a protector by traumatized children.
- If meeting one-on-one for ecotherapy, for safety reasons do so in a public park or other setting where there are plenty of people/witnesses.
- Most insurance companies will not reimburse for ecotherapy sessions, so it is a good idea to check coverage before scheduling such sessions. It is also a good idea to check with your “slip and fall” insurance policy to make sure you’re covered for accidents that occur outdoors.
- Concerning privacy issues while doing ecotherapy outdoors:
- In outdoor, public environments, privacy cannot be guaranteed.
- Privacy issues can be handled through a waiver in your intake paperwork for ecotherapy.
- There are special informed consent concerns specific to doing therapy outdoors in natural environments.
- You can brief patients about ecotherapy privacy concerns in your office prior to going out into the field.
