\ Outward Journey / \ Inward Discovery /
\ Outward Journey / \ Inward Discovery /
CEO, Co-founder, Creative Director, and Head Instructor
MChem, PhDEng, MScPsy
The released research report by MHF calls for the importance of connecting with nature when formulating policies regarding mental health.
You can read the full report and about national campaign here.
This 2022’s team for Mental Health Awareness Week is loneliness. The longer we feel lonely, the more we are at risk of mental health problems.
EMOTIONS
SENSES
BEAUTY
MEANING
COMPASSION
I invite you to read this Nature Connection Handbook released by Derby University’s Nature Connectedness Research Group led by prof. Richardson.
DISCLAIMER. The following describes the real life issues of violence and depression. Some of the content may be distressing for some readers. Read it when you feel ready or scroll down directly for the information about the HEAL: Nature for Public Health project.
Hello there,
I thought it would more appropriate to share my thoughts with you as if I were speaking to you directly. My name is Milena and I am co-founder and creative director of The Mindful Tourist.
I am in the middle of a depression episode and many things are unfolding and coming together for me at the moment. I suffered from emotional neglect, physical and sexual violence in my childhood and adulthood, which have marked my life experience profoundly. I am in my garden laying down on a blanket. Next to me my notebook and pencil. I am staring at it aimlessly. An innate force is pushing me to grab the pencil and write what is coming through my mind. I am starting to write what you are reading now.
I carry scars and wounds invisible to many that manifest themselves despite my will. Every day is a conscious struggle in doing my best to stay true to myself and nurture self-love. There is no day that I don’t do my best from the place where I am at. The efforts I make are unseen and at times doing my best seem not enough for others.
Finding self-empathy and self-kindness in the forests of Japan have taken me on a healing journey. This may sound strange, but it was the non-judgemental attitude of forests that has opened me to go in. This was for me the first time that I felt unconditional love, which have been providing me little by little with strength.
Isolation, loneliness, fear of being judged, fear of rejection, inability to open or even communicate about it to people closest to you is unbearable. Asking for help feels almost impossible. Depression is not something one can cure, but it can be treated or prevented. There are many tools that one can use towards reorienting the mind – positive coping mechanisms – they may be different for different people. Spending time and connecting with nature is one of them; Shinrin Yoku and Forest Medicine is considered to be a preventive measure towards decreased well-being.
This a is a breaking moment for me – the acquired fear of expressing my ideas and non-supportive environment have hijacked my courage in many ways. It is hard to notice my depression when you meet me. Now you know that what when you meet me, it is not the whole picture of my being. I am bridging more and more the two world together – the seen and unseen.
Mental health does not necessarily mean being clinically diagnosed or a mere absence of mental illness, but it is:
The world needs healing, thus I presents you with 4 pillars of HEAL: Nature for Public Health. Our compassion must extend indiscriminately to every member of the society – only then we can heal, only then the nature can heal.
Thank you for ‘listening’.
Very warmly,
Milena
Most incarcerated people have a history of trauma and suffer from mental illnesses.
We show up with no judgment offering nature and human connection workshops in penal institutions.
Most people already connect in many various ways with nature: green exercise, a walk, etc., but many of them are not aware why. We conduct street projects by simply talking to people to increase awareness about what nature does to us and how it makes us feel.
Children of age 9 to 15 show a decreased nature connection (up to 30%). Mental health has still a taboo status among non-clinical population. Why don't let nature be one of the positive coping mechanisms? We go to schools to conduct Shinrin-Yoku & Nature -Connection sessions for students of all ages and conduct workshops for educators.
There is still more research needed on the role of nature in our wellbeing. We conduct research on the relationship between nature and human well-being.
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