“In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks.”
-John Muir
This quote has rung true for me many times throughout my life. I can trace my relationship with nature and being outdoors back to my childhood growing up in Durham, North Carolina. As a teenager, Duke Forest became a refuge for me, connecting with and learning about myself and spending time making friends as I ran cross-country trails, went mountain-biking and learned to treasure the many species of plants and animals. In addition to the forest, the ocean has always drawn me in having spent countless hours sitting by the water’s edge or taking long walks along the beach. Spending time exploring the outdoors has nurtured me, calmed my anxiety and been a “constant” amidst many losses and transitions and seasons.
There is no surprise that integrating the outdoors into my clinical work as a licensed clinical professional counselor feels like a homecoming of sorts.
The research is truly astounding related to how nature has a positive impact on the mental health of human beings. According to a study done by researchers at Stanford University, spending quality time outside reduces stress, calms anxiety, and can lead to a lower risk of depression.
In fact, just fifteen minutes of walking in the woods generates a 16 percent drop in the stress hormone cortisol as well as decrease in adrenaline.
In addition, your brain releases serotonin, the body’s natural antidepressant, when you move your body outside. Blood pressure and heart rate both drop and our brains can experience a state of “rest” known as “soft fascination.” Our constant daily treadmill of tasks is wearing on the frontal lobes of our brains; if we are going to care well for our brains, this resting is essential, parallel to when lift weights and rest between sets.
I am certified as a nature informed therapist through the Center for Nature Informed Therapy (CNIT).
CNIT was founded in early 2020 by Dr. Heidi Schreiber-Pan, a licensed clinical psychologist and PhD researcher who specializes in the intersection of mental health and nature exposure. Dr. Schreiber-Pan created the Center for Nature Informed Therapy to provide a hub in the mid-Atlantic region for licensed therapists to become trained in the evidence-based practices of nature informed therapy, and to offer these services to clients both in the individual and group formats.
Land Acknowledgment
Sarah Boone Counseling acknowledges that Washington DC, where our nature-based sessions are held, is the traditional territory of Nacotchtank, Anacostan, and Piscataway people. The District of Columbia shares borders with Maryland and Virginia and connects with lands along the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. These river systems are where the Piscataway, Pamunkey, the Nentego (Nanichoke), Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Monacan, and the Powhatan cultures thrived. We acknowledge this legacy, as well as the ongoing struggle faced by the Indigenous communities around Washington, DC for recognition and land ownership.
This page uses information from the land acknowledgment and local history written by the American Library Association. Find their complete statement and accounting of Indigenous history and the Washington, D.C. region here.