More research is needed to understand whether nature-based therapy is effective, for whom and why

This study was based, in part, on the understanding that if nature engagement and psychological functioning are positively related, then it may be assumed that integrating nature with psychotherapy could be beneficial. To date, there is only limited published research investigating this possibility with children and young people. This study helps to fill that gap by exploring therapists’ experiences of practicing one-to-one nature-based counselling and psychotherapy with children and youth.

Four qualified UK-based therapists with experience in conducting nature-based therapy with children and youth participated in the study. Two of the participants worked with ages 5–18 years, one with ages 5–11, and one with young people age 13 and over. A semi-structured interview – 50-60 minutes in length – was conducted with each of the research participants via Zoom. Questions addressed during the interviews were designed to elicit the therapists’ perspectives on the interaction between nature and the therapeutic process.

Three themes emerged from the interviews: one focusing on key interactions between the client and nature; one describing how nature is viewed and how culture influences this view; and the other recounting how the therapists have been shaped by their own experiences of nature and nature-based practice. Reference to trauma appeared in all three themes, with most of the participants suggesting that clients who have experienced trauma and neurodevelopmental issues such as language processing, may particularly benefit from a nature-based embodied approach to counseling. Most of the participants reported that moving the therapy outdoors led to “dramatic shifts in the therapeutic work.” For the most part, these were positive shifts, with the client feeling safe and experiencing positive physiological responses, “such as improved breathing, leading to a calmer state of mind and creating a conducive platform for emotional processing.” The participants indicated that nature-based therapy may not be appropriate for some clients, but that it may be “particularly supportive for clients who have experienced trauma, and for those with language processing issues.”

The overall findings indicate that conducting therapy outdoors enhanced the clients’ sensory and visceral experience and supported the regulation of emotional states. Further research is needed, however, to gain a better understanding of how nature-based therapy supports relational and intrapsychic change in interaction with developmental processes and to help develop consolidated theory and models for practice. One of the goals of this study was to establish whether it is the therapeutic relationship or nature that facilitates therapeutic change in outdoor therapy. This study suggests that the two cannot be meaningfully extracted.