Nature trails for mental health in rural and remote communities
The Rural Mental Health Conference is an annual event exploring the now and the future of mental health prevention and treatment in our rural communities. The conference explores real issues impacting rural communities and solutions to overcome these obstacles and improve mental health and wellbeing, creating a positive path towards greater prevention and treatment of mental health.
NatureFix was pleased to co-present with the Southern Cross University and the Murrumbidgee Local Health District on a talk titled Nature Trails for Mental Health in Rural and Remote Communities.
The talk explored how the health benefits of feeling connected to nature are now well established. Feeling connected to nature enhances mental health and wellbeing for a diverse range of participants irrespective of the type of natural environment and across cultures. Enhancing feelings of connection to nature has also the potential to enhance health and address inequalities in a culturally sensitive manner and provide a medium to enhance the health and wellbeing of rural and regional communities in a sustainable manner.
However, as this presentation highlighted, research is demonstrating that facilitating a sense of connection to nature is more than just opportunities for contact with nature, rather the nature of the contact is also fundamental. In other words, maximising health benefits is about designing meaningful moments in nature not just minutes. Nature connectedness is emerging as a reliable mediator for increases in mental health, pro-social and pro-environmental behaviour.
“Using nature connection as a model of care is a whole-of- person approach. Connecting to nature treats the person as a whole, recognising they are physical, mental, emotional and spiritual responses as one system and not separate entities. It also response to the care and time that we give to nature, and this is relational, collaborative with a mixed care between ourselves and our love ones.
Connecting to nature helps us to get into flow states quicker. Being in nature and particularly, connecting with nature gives people a heads start by reducing their stress hormones, activating their parasympathetic nervous system and helping them to come out of their fight flight pre-state. So they can actually start to think laterally again and notice things beyond their immediate problems. It also supports their pro-social and environmental behaviours and connections, which are transferred to their own relationships”
Jacinta Elphick
Disaster Recovery Clinician. Mental Health Drug and Alcohol
Murrumbidgee Local Health District
The Snowy Wellness Drive includes over 40 nature connection activities across the Snowy Valleys that are drawn together through a series of trails. The Drive provides a nature prescription program that invites individuals to walk outdoors but also to absorb the multisensory details of nature to increase their level of connectedness. Thereby transforming a minute in nature into a meaningful moment with nature, enabling individuals to access an increased range health benefits over outdoor exercise alone. The presentation provided a strategy of approach that can overcome some of the scalability and implementation issues with nature prescriptions. Offering an exemplar example of how to design nature connection programs in rural and regional areas through the development and facilitation of nature trails.
The team now look forward to building on efforts to date as they soon commence clinical trials using the nature wellness trails.
For more information about the Snowy Valleys Nature Wellness Drive, the research trials or NatureFix please contact us: https://www.naturefix.life/contact
Conference Abstract Authors:
Dr Eric Brymer, FHEA Southern Cross University
Jennifer Wines, Murrumbidgee Local Health District
Jacinta Elphick, Murrumbidgee Local Health District
Dr Miles Holmes, The Connective Pty Ltd & NatureFix
Waminda Parker, The Connective Pty Ltd & NatureFix