Nature as Therapy

Psychotherapy aims to help individuals understand and create meaning from emotional and psychological difficulties they are experiencing.

Ecotherapy, utilising psychotherapeutic principles, forms a relationship to the natural world in order to enable us to make sense of our inner emotions and life experiences. Spending time in nature provides the space for inward reflection and the potential for transformation as we become conscious of our interconnectivity with the world around us. How we encounter and interpret the natural world creates a personal narrative that gives meaning to our experiences and emotions. We may feel depressed, anxious, lost and alone, overwhelmed by our thoughts and feelings and unable to draw upon previous ways of coping.

Psychotherapy in combination with the natural environment allows us to develop new ways of understanding ourselves and feel integrated in our lives.

The goal of psychotherapy is to help people understand and create coping mechanisms for psychological and emotional trouble they are experiencing.

Nature as therapy uses this to help people form a symbiotic relationship with nature, to enable them to better understand their own feelings and experiences. Nature provides us with the space to look inside ourselves and find our inner potential for growth as we become one with nature.

Often the way we see nature is a reflection of how we see ourselves. our emotions and our experiences. Together, nature and psychotherapy helps us find new was of finding ourselves,and feeling comfortable with our lives.

Header image courtesy of Fiona Roberts - www.fionarobertsart.co.uk