Throughout human history, the connection between nature and health has been central to both our wellbeing and to human development. Nature-based practices within health and social care such as ecotherapy and forest bathing are flourishing which has led to the emergence of the term “Green Care” – an umbrella term used for the many ways in which nature can be integrated into healthcare. As a result, when designing our master’s programme in Integrative Healthcare, we decided to make ‘Green Care’ one of the 19 essential integrative approaches we teach.

The principles of Green Care are heavily inspired by the ancient green physician, Hippocrates who was the first documented doctor who used nature as part of his prescriptions. Through the ages, these principles of working with nature have been used within medicine. Think of the Victorians who used to get prescribed trips to the seaside for a whole host of illnesses including respiratory diseases like TB but also mental health issues or the therapeutic use of gardens for soldiers recovering from trauma in World War One.

Living in harmony with the natural world has long been seen as a foundation of good health, and it’s only been in the last fifty years with the rise of urbanisation, consumerism and the digital era, that value has been put more on what we own, rather than what we are surrounded by. We’ve built virtual ecosystems such as social media and video games that simulate interaction but have in fact disconnected us from embodied, ecological experience. It is now thought humans today experience less direct contact with non-human life than any generation before.

There have been lots of studies in the last decade into Green Care.  Spending time in the natural environment has been proven to reduce stress, anxiety and depression, helps with sleep disorders, boosts our immune systems and can reduce the risk of chronic diseases. These findings not only highlight the vital relationship with nature for individual wellbeing, but also for community health and our wider environment.

And even the NHS has been embracing Green Care. In 2021, the NHS undertook an incredibly successful pilot scheme for Green Social Prescribing that explored using a connection with nature to help with mental health. Patients were prescribed natural activities such as walking, outdoor talking therapies, community gardening or wild swimming.

In view of the need for a new model that supports and sustains healthcare and connects people to activities rather than pharmaceuticals, we are so proud to include Green Care as part of our master’s Diploma in Integrative Healthcare. If you’d like to learn more about its evidence base, and how bringing nature back to the heart of health and healing is essential, do check out our master’s Diploma – for healthcare professionals interested in making a difference.

Diploma in Integrative Healthcare – NCIM – National Centre for Integrative Medicine

I’ll leave you with this poem. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

Dr Elizabeth Thompson

Stand still.

The trees ahead and bushes beside you

are not lost.

Wherever you are is called Here,

And you must treat it as a powerful stranger,

Must ask permission to know it and be known.

The forest breathes. Listen. It answers,

I have made this place around you.

If you leave it, you may come back again, saying Here.

No two trees are the same to Raven.

No two branches are the same to Wren.

If what a tree or a bush does is lost on you,

You are surely lost.

Stand still.

The forest knows where you are.

You must let it find you.

— David Wagoner