Ecotherapy
Find Peace and Happiness with Indianapolis Trauma Therapy Center's Ecotherapy
What is Ecotherapy, or Nature Therapy?
Ecotherapy, also called nature therapy or green therapy, is using nature to help us heal. While simply spending time in nature is beneficial, ecotherapy incorporates nature into a therapeutic or mental health practice, and involves therapeutic intervention, guidance and support by a trained professional, such as a licensed clinical therapist.
Ecotherapy can be done individually or in a group, and can involve a number of techniques including mindfulness, breath-work, somatic regulation, art therapy, immersion in nature, working with animals, and more.
Possible Benefits of Ecotherapy or Nature Therapy
Ecotherapy has been tied to a number of possible health benefits in hundreds of scientific studies for various physical and mental illness, including PTSD. (Frontiers in Psychology, August 2018).
Regulation and Neuroplasticity
Trauma affects the brain architecture and nervous system. Survivors’ brains are constantly bombarded with cues of danger, often leading to panic, hypervigilance and anxiety or depression, withdrawal, and collapse. Research has shown that one can rewire the brain and nervous system with what is called ‘Intentional Neuroplasticity’. Immersing oneself in nature can provide an abundance of cues of safety to the nervous system, helping survivors regulate their emotional state, and rewire their nervous systems to feel safe and engaged.
Feeling Grounded and Living in the Present
Trauma has a profound impact on one’s ability to be present manifesting in flashbacks, catastrophizing, preoccupation with the past or rumination, and dissociation including being numb to body sensations. A major part of any recovery from trauma is reconciling this tendency to slip away from the present. Mindfulness in the form of engaging the five senses is a powerful method of ‘grounding’. Connecting to nature through the five senses can help trauma survivors ground in the present and bring someone out of re-traumatizing rumination, flashbacks, and dissociation.
Establishing Hope and a Felt Sense of Safety
The impacts of trauma often cause the individual to feel alone and trapped, causing them to lose hope that there is any other than their trauma. Nature expands their experience, giving them hope and reminding them there is life beyond trauma.
Find out how Ecotherapy can help you on your healing journey!
Types of Ecotherapy
Forest Bathing
Forest Bathing
Forest Bathing
Forest Therapy is based on the Japenese art of shinrin-yoku, meaning forest bathing. According to the International Nature and Forest Alliance (INFTA), it is a research supported practice of guided immersions into forests to promote mental and physical health.
Art Ecotherapy
Forest Bathing
Forest Bathing
Art Ecotherapy combines creative crafts and art with nature You might use your creative skills to paint in a green space, like a park or a forest. This might also includes using natural materials like clay, grass, or wood or using green spaces as inspiration for art.
HOrticultural Therapy
Animal-Assisted THerapy
Animal-Assisted THerapy
Horticulture Therapy usually involves some form of gardening, but can also include caring for, watering, or simply spending time with plants either indoors or outside. This can be done in the therapy office, at a conservatory, in a farm setting, or at a gardening center.
Animal-Assisted THerapy
Animal-Assisted THerapy
Animal-Assisted THerapy
Animal-assisted Therapy involves spending time with an animal or animals. This can be done outside in a farm setting or inside with therapy pets like dogs, and can include petting, feeding or grooming animals under the supervision of a professional therapist.