I love your work, Lisa! And I love how you’re doing health promotion and prevention with your programs. I’m curious how that works because I’ve thought about doing that in my practice, too. Right now we market our groups as therapy so we write an individual goal for each child in the group, but I do like the idea of developmental enrichment groups for children too (using a health and wellness/ preventative approach) and in that model I don’t think we’d need to write individualized goals, since it is more an overall approach with general aims for the group but not individual goals. There are pros and cons to each way, but I think either way can work in an OT practice. Do you agree?
3 Likes
This has always been an area I have had interest in, however it has never been applicable to my practice and therefore I haven’t really completed any research. So I definitely will be digging into this for my transition into my next OT role.
I did have a short stint in adolescent mental health where I observed that any outdoor/nature-based therapy tended to be the most effective intervention; especially since I was working in rural Australia. I always “joked” that as human’s we often forget that we are animals and we need that green and blue space to regulate and grow. This typically facilitated the engagement in nature-based therapy really well and on each occasion I saw great results. It was interesting to see young Australian men report that they were feeling so much better after a couple weeks of gardening given the “macho” stereotype that pressures younger men into avoiding these activities in fear of not being seen as masculine.
I am very keen to give Dr Harper’s book on nature-based therapy a read to learn more in-depth processes to integrate this into more regular therapeutic practice. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention!
3 Likes
Does your mom live near Michigan? I desperately need help with some of my plants! 
2 Likes
Hey Laura! Thanks for the post! I feel honored! You amaze with all that you do!! Thank you thank you thank you for supporting so many and bringing the nature-based business world into the spotlight! My groups were first created based on a needs assessment of families and support groups that I reached out to share what I was envisioning. Those were considered my stakeholders at the time and how I determined the need. My goal from a “population” scope was to increase accessibility to a natural space and to increase accessibility to peers. Access to peers is important to caregivers. I gather a fair amount of information through my intakes including strengths, interests, challenges and caregiver goals. This information helps us focus our support, bring awareness to needs and at times support in planning of activities. I do not write individualized goals for each participant but rather have a group goal while supporting individually…which is where our professional skills come in. I continue to fine tune and work toward being grounded in our scope, evidence and efficacy. There are pros and cons as you say and yes I do think either way it can work in an OT practice. I will continue to learn from you as well! Thank you again!
3 Likes
She’s in Indiana 
I bet she could offer some advice!
1 Like
I love this topic, and have enjoyed reading the article and all the wonderful comments! There is such a connection between mental health and the outdoors, it is no wonder that so many of the grounding techniques for anxiety involve being outside/observing nature. I enjoyed learning about Laura’s work and wish I lived in CA- Outdoor Kids sounds like a dream work environment! In my area (midwest) some OT friends have worked with Timbernook to start their own business running nature-based OT camps. This is such an important area, as kids get further and further into the digital world and less and less into the outdoors! Thank you to everyone who posted great resources in the comments- I have a lot to look into!
3 Likes
Hi everyone- I re-listened to Sarah and I’s conversation on the podcast today and felt like I did not state something clearly in the beginning of our conversation, so I want to clarify: while there IS literature in OT on nature-based interventions with adults (mainly in mental health literature) there is almost NO literature on nature-based interventions in pediatric OT. What I meant to communicate in the podcast episode is that the voices of OTs are usually absent in the overall body of multi-disciplinary literature on the topic of nature and health. Our limited literature on nature-based intervention isn’t being cited much in the literature of other disciplines. Something I hope we see changing in the near future!
Here’s a short excerpt from my PhD dissertation proposal with a few OT nature-based mental health literature citations- I’m sure a quick google search would bring these articles up if you’d like to explore them further. I don’t want this important research to go unmentioned in the conversation…there was just so much to talk about!
From my proposal:
“OT research on nature-based practice exists primarily in adult mental health literature. Occupational therapists are infusing nature into OT practice with adult clients through gardening or horticulture programs (Cipriani et al., 2017; Smidl et al., 2017). A nature-based OT vocational rehabilitation program decreased participants’ stress, improved their return to work, and increased their perceived value of everyday occupations (Pálsdóttir et al., 2013). A qualitative study of nature-based OT services for adults found that working close to nature or with animals allowed participants to develop practical skills, social connections, as well as increased their feelings of mastery, meaning, and well-being (Granerud & Eriksson, 2014).”
Didn’t want to leave us with the impression that there is NO literature in OT on nature-based practice. It is primarily PEDIATRICS where we need more literature…although more research on nature and occupational participation & performance is never a bad thing, in my opinion. 
Would love to hear your thoughts on the podcast episode too. 
2 Likes
So true, when I working in adult rehab, I was so fortunate because the rehab gym was located on the 6th floor outfitted with a wall of windows.
I always set up my patients to face the windows during their treatment sessions. Our conversations inevitably included the beautiful “birds-eye view” in the middle of the urban setting of the city. I feel the view provided a sence of calmness and wellbeing. My patients were able to open up about themselves to focus on the topic of discussion and not the difficulty of the rehab ther-ex. Excellent article. Thank you Nancy Wright OTR/L
2 Likes