About Me
I’m Hugh and I get up each and every day with the mission to inspire people to experience the health and wellbeing benefits that increasing their connection with nature can bring. This started during Covid when I ran webinars and published daily ‘nature connection invitations’ on social media - these are mindful activities to engage in outdoors designed to enhance your nature connection and boosts the therapeutic and restorative effects of nature for your health and wellbeing. Experiencing these benefits myself inspired me to train as a nature and forest therapy practitioner.
Why is this Important?
In today's fast-paced and often technology-dominated world, many of us find ourselves increasingly disconnected from nature. But spending time outdoors and connecting with nature offers numerous benefits to our mental health — it's not just a break from the daily grind; it's a powerful tool for enhancing our wellbeing. What’s more it is easy to access and all around us - even in urban areas.
Research shows that spending time in nature can reduce stress and anxiety, as the natural environment promotes relaxation, helping us to disconnect from the pressures of life and reconnect with ourselves. Nature has a way of soothing the soul and calming the mind. Studies have shown that just 20 minutes in a natural setting can significantly reduce stress hormones. Just imagine the weight lifting off your shoulders as you breathe in the fresh air, listen to the birds singing and the rustling leaves.
Spending time in nature also boosts our mood and energy levels. Exposure to natural light increases the production of serotonin, a hormone that makes us feel happier and more focused. Whether it’s a walk in the park, a hike in the mountains, or simply sitting in your garden, nature offers us a place for relaxation and rejuvenation. Being surrounded by the beauty of nature and the outdoors helps us live in the moment, appreciate the present, and find clarity in our thoughts.
Nature Mindfulness
In my role as a Forest Therapy Practitioner I support and encourage people to practice ‘nature-mindfulness’ — which involves simply spending time outdoors focusing on the sights, sounds, patterns and textures all around us in nature. Doing this regularly can improve our mental clarity and emotional regulation, helping us to stay present and grounded. Even a short walk in a green space can significantly improve our mood and energy levels. The sights, sounds, and smells of nature stimulate our senses and rejuvenate our minds.
Increasing your nature connection is also good for the environment - because people who are more connected to nature tend to do more to protect it.
So what?
I have previously published a self-guided book on ‘supporting recovery from substance use using nature connection’ and I am now writing a second guide looking at how nature mindfulness can help to improve and maintain mental health and wellbeing. The workbooks also contain a link to additional nature connection activities, useful articles and downloadable resources available from our website.
I am trying to cover the costs of the first print run through Crowdfunding. So I’m offering you the opportunity to buy copies in advance at a discounted rate to achieve this. You can buy a copy or yourself, buy a copy to be donated to a UK Mental Health Charity, or buy a number of these workbooks for your own organisation. When they have been printed, these self-guided workbooks will be sold through our Social Enterprise An Darach Forest Therapy (www.silvotherapy.co.uk) for £12 each. 10% of the profits from their sale will be donated to mental health charities in Scotland.
The images below are from the 'Supporting your Recovery Through Nature Connection' workbook to show the kind of content it will contain.
NOTE - The will be quite a bit of crossover between the Recovery in Mental Health and Recovery in Substance Use workbooks, but each will focus on its own areas.
