Nature-Based Therapy

Nevin J. Harper, Kathryn Rose, David Segal

Description

Take your therapeutic practice with children, youth, and families out into nature

• Research published in Psychological Bulletin shows that millennials suffer more from anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts than any other generation, and the number of people seeking help for mental health concerns is growing at an alarming rate
• Aligned with this heightened awareness of mental health issues is the need to reconnect with nature, especially as it relates to "unplugging", increasingly sedentary lifestyles, and environmental crises.
• Nature-based Therapy is a practical guide for those working in educational and therapeutic settings that addresses the disconnection between humans and their ecological home
• The nature-based approach offers offer something unique that addresses the underlying disconnection
• Explains successful theories and practices undertaken with children, youth, and families.
• Developing sensory awareness of both outer and inner landscapes, navigating risk in play, and partnering with nature as a co-facilitator to create lasting change are a few of the powerful approaches explored
• Case examples include a diverse range of intentions and interventions from one-on-one sessions in forests, group work at local parks, to multi-family outdoor adventures
• Is practitioner-friendly and not overly academic
• Contains easily understood approaches with rationales and practice examples
• Bridges multiple helping and healing fields
• Authors have been working in nature-based therapy for over 15 years.
• Dr. Nevin J. Harper (PhD) is an Associate Professor in the School of Child & Youth Care at the University of Victoria, a National Research Coordinator for Outward Bound Canada, and the co-chair of the Adventure Therapy International Committee.
• David Segal (MA, RCC), and Kathryn Rose (MA, RCC) are both Registered Clinical Counselors in a successful private practice that focuses primarily on nature-based therapy for children, youth, families, and groups.

Audience
Counselors, therapists, youth workers, social workers, educators, and parents interested in the therapeutic approach to connecting with nature

Take your therapeutic practice with children, youth, and families out into nature

The number of children, youth, and families seeking help for a wide range of mental health concerns is growing at an alarming rate, and many struggle to thrive despite well-intentioned interventions from skilled helpers. Unplugging from technology and reconnecting with the web of life is a powerful antidote to the highly technological and fast-paced realities of so many.

Nature-Based Therapy addresses this underlying disconnection between humans and their ecological home, exploring theories and therapeutic practices undertaken with children, youth, and families, including:

• Developing sensory awareness of outer and inner landscapes
• Navigating risk in play
• Case examples with a diverse range of settings, intentions, and interventions.

Nature-Based Therapy is for counselors, therapists, youth and social workers, educators, and parents working in educational and therapeutic settings who want to take their practice beyond the office walls and into the powerful terrain of the wild, partnering with nature as a co-facilitator to create lasting change.

Acknowledgments
Notes to the Reader

1. An Introduction to Nature for Therapy
2. Outdoor Therapies: A Choice of Paths to Follow
3. Why Nature-based Therapy for Children, Youth, and Families?
4. Making the Choice to Take Therapy Outside
5. Nature-based Play, Regulation, and Healthy Neurophysiology
6. Outdoor Risky Play in Nature-based Therapy
7. Nature as Co-therapist
8. Nature-based Therapy for Families
9. Multi-family Nature-based Therapy
10. Group Applications in Nature-based Therapy
11. Ethics in Nature-based Therapy

Appendix A: Developing a Nature-based Therapy Practice
Appendix B: Suggested Clothing and Equipment/Materials List
Notes
Index
About the Authors
About New Society Publishers

Sujets

• Counseling
• List of counseling topics
• Counselor
• Clinical psychology
• Teacher
• Psychotherapy
• Psychology
• Parent

Informations

• Publié par: New Society Publishers
• Date de parution: 02 juillet 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781771423021
• Langue: English

Extrait

Praise for Nature-Based Therapy
Even in the toxic conditions created by the Industrial Growth Society, there is health and well-being to be found in opening ourselves to the web of life. Right now when we need it so much, these authors bring to our attention many wonderfully useful methods and tools, along with the stories of how they have been effective. Especially welcome is the authors discussion of the value of risk-taking in our hyper-protective, soul-deadening society.
- Joanna Macy, author, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess we re in without Going Crazy
...offers an accessible, research-informed framework for conducting therapy out of doors, in ways that allow clients and service users to benefit from the multiple learning and healing opportunities afforded by open-ness to the natural world. Combining down-to-earth practical guidance, based on the extensive professional experience of the authors, with thoughtful and critical analysis of relevant theory and evidence from a wide range of disciplinary tradition, this is essential reading for anyone undertaking this kind of work.
- John McLeod, Adjunct Professor of Psychology, University of Oslo
A profound and sensitive exploration of the healing capacity of nature and how counselors from all disciplines can expand their practice into the outdoors. Nature-Based Therapy provides plenty of convincing evidence to support the argument that time in nature can have biological, psychological and social advantages for children, youth and families. If you have ever felt the need to take your clinical work beyond four walls, this book will inspire you to step outside, no matter your client s diagnosis or the weather. Nature-Based Therapy is a tantalizing blend of clinical anecdote, research and social critique of our disconnection with nature and what we can do to reimagine therapy as a process of reconnection.
- Michael Ungar, PhD, Canada Research Chair in Child, Family and Community Resilience, Dalhousie University, Canada, and author, Change Your World: The Science of Resilience and the True Path to Success
Written in a unique, accessible, anecdotal and narrative style, Nature-Based Therapy gives a real experiential sense of working with children and families outdoors. This book is a timely and pragmatic contribution to the growing literature on taking therapy outside.
- Dr. Joe Hinds, Senior Lecturer in Counselling, Department of Psychology, Social Work and Counselling, University of Greenwich, Old Royal Naval College, London, UK
This book offers nature-based methods that help the clinician to expand the lens with which to see, hear, and work with clients to include the natural world in which we live. With compelling research, illustrative case studies, and thoughtful narrative on ecopsychological theory, Nature-based Therapy is a valuable handbook for practitioners working with children, youth, and families. It also offers much for educators and parents to ponder about the importance of re-membering ourselves and our children to the natural world.
- Patricia H. Hasbach, PhD, Private practice clinician, professor, and co-author of Ecopsychology: Science, Totems, and the Technological Species and The Rediscovery of the Wild
This book provides essential answers to the question, But how do I really do nature-based therapy? The scientific research literature is now clear enough that interaction with nature greatly benefits people physically and psychologically. It s time for the therapeutic community and the broader public to integrate this knowledge into practice. This accessible and visionary book shows us how. Highly recommended.
- Peter H. Kahn, Jr., author of Technological Nature: Adapatation and the Future of Human Life
...explores multiple ways of enhancing wellbeing through case studies that beautifully illuminate the complex and integrated process of healing and change that can be found in nature-based therapy.
- Dr. Christine Lynn Norton, LCSW, CCTP, CET
A fascinating overview of the health benefits of nature therapy, its healing power and how in this modern age, each of us needs nature now more than ever. Read this book. And then redeem this very day by giving yourself and those you care about, a generous dose of Vitamin N (Nature).
- Jacob Rodenburg, co-author, The Big Book of Nature Activities , and Executive Director Camp Kawartha The Camp Kawartha Outdoor Education Centre/Environment Centre

Copyright 2019 by Nevin Harper, Kathryn Rose, and David Segal. All rights reserved.
Cover design by Diane McIntosh. Cover images iStock.
Printed in Canada. First printing May 2019.
Inquiries regarding requests to reprint all or part of Nature-Based Therapy should be addressed to New Society Publishers at the address below. To order directly from the publishers, please call toll-free (North America) 1-800-567-6772, or order online at www.newsociety.com
Any other inquiries can be directed by mail to
New Society Publishers P.O. Box 189, Gabriola Island, BC V0R 1X0, Canada [phone]
L IBRARY AND A RCHIVES C ANADA C ATALOGUING IN P UBLICATION
Title: Nature-based therapy : a practitioner s guide to working outdoors with children, youth, and families / Nevin Harper, Kathryn Rose, David Segal.
Names: Harper, Nevin, 1970- author. | Rose, Kathryn, 1981- author. | Segal, David, 1980- author.
Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190096500 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190096896 | ISBN 9780865719132 (softcover) | ISBN 9781550927061 ( PDF ) | ISBN 9781771423021 ( EPUB )
Subjects: LCSH : Nature-Psychological aspects. | LCSH : Nature-Therapeutic use. LCSH : Counseling. | LCSH : Psychotherapy.
Classification: LCC BF 353.5. N 37 H 37 2019 | DDC 155.9/1- DC 23

New Society Publishers mission is to publish books that contribute in fundamental ways to building an ecologically sustainable and just society, and to do so with the least possible impact on the environment, in a manner that models this vision.
Contents
Acknowledgments
Notes to the Reader
1. An Introduction to Nature for Therapy
2. Outdoor Therapies: A Choice of Paths to Follow
3. Why Nature-based Therapy for Children, Youth, and Families?
4. Making the Choice to Take Therapy Outside
5. Nature-based Play, Regulation, and Healthy Neurophysiology
6. Outdoor Risky Play in Nature-based Therapy
7. Nature as Co-therapist
8. Nature-based Therapy for Families
9. Multi-family Nature-based Therapy
10. Group Applications in Nature-based Therapy
11. Ethics in Nature-based Therapy
Appendix A: Developing a Nature-based Therapy Practice
Appendix B: Suggested Clothing and Equipment/Materials List
Notes
Index
About the Authors
About New Society Publishers
Acknowledgments
We are inextricably linked to the web of life, embedded in a vast network of relationships. These relationships shape who we are and in many ways contributed to the completion of this book. We are delighted to express our sincere gratitude and acknowledge those who made this possible.
We thank all our human and more-than-human teachers and mentors who have shaped our understanding of healing and nature-based practice. Specifically, we recognize the land and all of her flora, fauna, flows of energy, and cycles; without these, nothing would be possible. Also, we acknowledge the traditional territory of the Coast and Straits Salish People on Vancouver Island, Canada, upon which we live, work, and draw our sustenance.
We thank our clients, past and present, for trusting to share their life stories and to walk with us. We have been profoundly influenced by your courage to face and overcome obstacles, as well as your willingness to explore your ecological selves. As a result, we have grown personally, and our understanding of this work has expanded.
We thank our colleagues in adventure therapy and ecotherapy fields whose work has informed and inspired us. Special thanks to those who invested time to review sections of this manuscript and provide substantive scholarly and critical feedback: Denise Mitten, Gary Stauffer, Tony Alvarez, Kaya Lyons, Will Dobud, Alison Gerlach, John Scull, and Katie Asmus. Also, thank you to our associates at Human-Nature Counseling and community collaborators who provided direction, support, and encouragement for this project along the way. These contributions, big and small, improved our focus, fueled our effort, and ultimately improved the content of this book.
From Nevin: Love and appreciation to my wife, Jocelyne, for your strength, support, and companionship. Gratitude for my original nature-based research assistants, my kids, Isaac and Stella, for your passion and spirited presence in my life. Cheers to my colleagues past and present, for your influence and inspiration. And thank you to my academic mentors, David Robinson and Keith Russell, for introducing me to the potential of asking hard questions and the influence of the written word. Last, a big thank you to my parents for raising a feral child in the boreal forest.
From Katy: Sending gratitude to my husband, Spencer, for his constant love, support, and steadfast belief in our nature-based work, along with my two boys, Ira and Oakley, whose exuberance and curiosity for the world inspire me every day. I m also grateful to my parents for being the most incredible role models in raising a healthy family. Thanks to all my teachers who mentored me down the path of ecopsychology, and to the many community champions who have supported our vision at Human-Nature and helped us to develop and deliver the accessible nature-based programs that provide inspiration for this book (Power To Be