At One with Nature.

Lab 3- April 5: Psychoemotional health through activity

One of the readings for this lab, Vitamin Green: How viewing, being and “doing” in nature affects our health and well-being (Moll, Gewurtz & Saltmarche, 2013), reminded me of an experience in nature during my placement.

My preceptor enjoyed engaging in outdoor recreational activities with her clients, both in one-on-one and group settings. In fact, I went on a hike at Cataraqui Creek with 2 clients on my first day of placement. After telling my preceptor that winter wasn't exactly my favourite season, she said (jokingly?) that one of her goals for my placement was to convert me into a winter loving girl! Not sure if I am, but I do have a renewed appreciation for nature and the outdoors.



I remember going to Lemoine Point Conservation area with my preceptor and two clients. Naturally, the four of us paired up and I walked with a client who I've gone on several outings with. This client was very knowledgeable about Kingston's nature areas and we had visited the Cataraqui Creek area together as well. I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about what she knew about the trail and her experiences and plans to visit again, on her own, during the summer.

We had walked along a trail in what seemed to be a stretch of white (this was during the winter) to head into the forest, and I had thought that the landscape was a very pretty sight indeed. The moment that stands out from this outing, was when we were coming out of the forest, heading back to the parking lot. Walking out of the forest, seeing the same clearing from the opposite side, somehow stretched the white much wider across the horizon. And the sky! The sky that day was such a lovely blue. It felt so wide, so vast, and oh so big and bright! As we stepped into the clearing, and out of the trees that faded into my periphery, the sky seemed to expand before me. To say it was a beautiful sight would not do that moment justice. The sky's fair blue fabric seemed to stretch itself towards infinity and beyond, without losing the integrity of its colour. As I walked along side my client, I couldn't help but crane my neck to look up and around in an attempt to see how far the sky went. I think I said something silly, something along the lines of, "Wow, the sky. It's so pretty!" My client agreed and I felt that we were both experiencing an "awe-inspiring" moment of nature and humanity.


The feeling of "Awe", which is what I felt when I came out of the woods at Lemoine Point, is often defined as a combination of Surprise and Fear. I was in awe of the beautiful landscape and it made me feel small compared to the sudden overwhelming "large-ness" of the sky. But the fear is not something that made me feel unsafe, it made me feel more grounded and human. More humble, perhaps? I also use the word "humanity" to describe that moment because I felt a sudden state of "same-ness" had been draped upon my client and I. Mental illness or not, we were both experiencing this beautiful landscape. In that moment, I felt the most genuine sense that there was no "me" and "them", only "Us". There was no "Other" in the moment, no mental illness and no client or therapist. We were just two people enjoying nature together.

RESOURCE to Reflect on...
An article by Roe and Aspinall (2011) compared the benefits of walking in urban and rural settings in two groups of adults with good and poor mental health. They defined "good" mental health as having no clinically defined disorder, while a diagnosis of a mental health problem was the criteria for "poor" mental health. Results found that there was a consistent restorative effect of landscape, with rural walking being more advantageous to affective and cognitive restoration in both groups (with the poor mental health group benefitting more!) than an urban walk. The University of Wales Institute of Science and Technology (UWIST) Mood Adjective Checklist (MACL), a personal project scale and a shortened version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale were used to assess restorative benefits involved measuring mood (hedonic tone or affective state, energy and stress), reflection (project planning, enjoyment and stress) and self-esteem respectively. (Roe & Aspinall, 2011).

Looks like all the nature walking I did with my clients during placement will benefit their psychological well-being and recovery! The power of nature is definitely something I will try to incorporate into my future practice.

Roe, J. & Aspinall, P. (2011). The restorative benefits of walking in urban and rural settings in adults with good and poor mental health. Health & Place, 17, 103-113.