Mental Health Matters
There is an old proverb about “the cobbler’s children having no shoes”, an acknowledgment of the irony that often we use the skills we have to assist others and let those areas slip in our own lives.
Earlier this year Strontianbased Forest Bathing and Nature Connection guide Hugh Asher found himself asking himself why he was able to help others improve their mental wellbeing but was struggling himself.
Hugh told me: “Like so many people, I often suffer with ‘winter blues’, but this year the early signs of spring were not having their usual mood-lifting effect and instead I was experiencing quite bad anxiety and depression.
“Coupled with a hefty dose of imposter syndrome about how I could help others when I was struggling to help myself, I decided to take some positive action and engage in an intense programme of nature connection activities and measure the effects for the whole of April.” Hugh, who has a Phd in social science, has widely researched the measurement of wellbeing through various therapies and has a background in supporting people with poor mental and emotional health.
He qualified as a forest bathing guide after becoming interested in the benefits of nature connection on wellbeing during the Covid lockdown and has published several booklets, as well as running regular in person and virtual sessions.
He approached the project with a scientific mindset.
“I wanted to create a measurable outcome of the programme, so I used Ryff ’s scale of psychological wellbeing, which I used to create a numerical score; the Profile of Moods Scale which measures levels of anxiety and depression and my blood pressure reading and pulse,” he explained.
“I recorded these various measurements at the start for a baseline reading and then at various points during the month.”
The Eudaimonia Project, so named as Hugh was measuring his eudaimonic wellbeing, which is our ability to feel life is worthwhile and meaningful, and to be functioning well, involved a commitment to dedicate daily time set aside to complete a sit spot practice and to complete a regular nature journal with a focus on gratitude.
Sit spot is a forest bathing practice which involves spending time daily in the same space outside and observing and connecting with the natural world around you in a mindful and meaningful way.
Nature gratitude journalling involves recording what you notice and appreciate in nature.
This can include creativity such as prose, poetry, sketching or painting but can simply be a line or two about what you have been grateful for.
At the end of Hugh’s first month of the project even he was surprised at the results, which were overwhelmingly positive.
His baseline score on the Ryff’s scale at the start had been 162 out of a possible 294 (the higher the score the better), by the end of the month it had increased to 203.
Hugh used the Profile of Moods score to gauge his mood before and after several longer nature connection practices during the month and found improvements every time, particularly in regard to depression and anxiety levels.
The project will continue, with further aspects including a planned digital detox.
I keep a daily nature connection journal myself and I was fascinated by the additional aspects scientific measurement results in Hugh’s project.
I am a big advocate of the benefits of nature connection to our wellbeing, from a walk in the woods, a swim in a loch or river, time gazing at the clouds or stars, stopping to smell the wildflowers or dancing in the rain, but my connection tends more towards the whimsical and creative rather than the scientific or measurable.
There is definitely room for both and as Hugh told me, “the reason I label nature connection sit spots and nature gratitude journalling as practice is because the more often you do them the better you get at it”.
True nature connection is not about just noticing things in nature, but about understanding how nature makes you feel.
And as we all know we should really try to practice what we preach!
For more about Hugh Asher and An Darach Forest Therapy, visit silvotherapy. co.uk. of of