Nature Therapy

Growing up surrounded by woods and mountains, I have always had a love for the outdoors. My family spent summer days at the lake, fall days hiking, and winter days surrounded by the warmth of a fire outdoors. If it were up to me, I would spend all my time outdoors, even the ones that should be spent in a classroom. I think the most daunting thing about learning for me is not the material or the difficulty, but having to sit still in a classroom setting for long periods of time. You could assume that some children also feel this way. If you further direct this towards children who may be struggling with something in the classroom and need an OT intervention, this is where something referred to as nature therapy could come into play.

After listening to a short podcast about the benefits and different ways to implement therapy interventions in nature, my mind started running with new ideas. You mean to tell me that I could combine my workplace with my love for outdoors and greatly benefit my client? A dream come true for me. The podcast mentioned using water, sand, or the woods as a basis for completing these sessions and they also discussed what clients could benefit most. They talked about sensory integration issues or ADHD, they even talked about helping a client with handwriting difficulties. Even if the pre and post assessments need to be done in the clinical setting, just the little bit of interaction with the outside world could make a world of difference for a child who might not venture there on his/her own. I see this as a change in setting for a child who has been going to OT for a while and is no longer compliant in completing the activities because he/she is bored. Integrating nature therapy into a scenario like that could really help the practitioner and client overcome that setback.