In-Person Ecotherapy
Nature Therapy
in Sarasota, FL
What Is Nature Therapy?
Ask virtually anyone to name a place where they feel calmest, happiest, and most at peace with the world, and chances are they will say somewhere out in nature. As humans, our brains and bodies are wired to connect with nature. Yet in modern times, we have become estranged from nature. Technological innovation, corporate greed, and a hunger for material wealth have severed our connection to the natural world, causing immense environmental destruction along the way.
Nature therapy, or ecotherapy, is a way of getting back to our bedrock selves and coming home to our shared origins. It is built on the idea that we are not separate from the natural world and that natural processes—such as growth, decay, healing, and rebirth—mirror our own internal processes.
Nature therapy is best suited for people who are looking for a deeper, more holistic alternative to doing therapy in an office or on a computer. It has all the benefits of a typical in-person session as well as the added benefit of being in an environment that’s uncontrolled and full of spontaneity. There’s more room for sessions to take unexpected turns, both literally and figuratively, which makes nature therapy feel truer to life than other approaches.
While most forms of therapy focus on deepening the relationship with the self, nature therapy focuses on achieving harmony between the self and the world. This can help you decrease your stress, improve cognitive functioning, and connect with your inner capacity for healing.
How Effective Is Nature Therapy?
Although nature therapy is a deeply spontaneous process that often embraces the spur of the moment, it is far more than just a casual nature walk. It’s an evidence-based approach with a wide body of research to support it, and the field of ecopsychology continues to grow bigger and bigger each year.
Research shows that nature exposure can strengthen important functions of your brain, improving your mood, attention, productivity, impulse inhibition, and ability to manage stress. Even access to windows with a view of natural landscapes has been shown to improve academic testing performance as well as increase overall attendance and rates of graduation.
A case study looking at recovery time for hospital patients revealed that those with a view of nature through their window had lower levels of stress and recovered from surgery quicker than patients with a view of buildings through their window (Encyclopedia of Environmental Ethics & Philosophy. 2007. Biophilia. pp. 109-112. Farmington Hills, MI. Macmillian Reference USA/Gale Cengage Learning).
At Harmony Harbor, we use ecotherapy to help people work through trauma, anxiety, depression, and a host of other mental (and physical) health issues. After all, since we are inextricably part of nature itself, there’s really nothing that nature therapy can’t treat.
What’s more, our practice has a huge advantage in providing a nature-based approach because of where we are. Florida is one of the most biodiverse states in the US, and it also has the most tropical climate. Clients here have the unique ability to connect with a wide variety of different landscapes, including coastlines, swamplands, and forests. The abundance of wildlife also enlivens the therapeutic process, since Florida is home to more than 4,000 known animal species.
Have any questions? Send us a message!
How Does Nature Therapy Work?
The nature-based healing journey includes outdoor walk-and-talk sessions, earth-based grounding practices, forest bathing, and opportunities to deepen your personal relationship with nature. It can be done in both individual and group settings, and Harmony Harbor is proud to offer group therapy outings to various locations within the general Sarasota area and Suncoast communities.
Since ecotherapy is largely about what you find in the moment of exploration, it’s a highly intuitive and personalized process that looks different from client to client and session to session. After all, the beautiful thing about being in the natural world is that you don’t know what’s going to happen, which is a great metaphor for life itself.
Nature therapy utilizes the power of metaphors and symbols to help you draw parallels between your life and the natural cycle of the world around you. You can use nature to enhance your creativity, crafting symbolic works of art out of found materials like leaves, twigs, and stones. You can also use nature as a means of ritual creation, devising practices that celebrate growth, honor loss, and open channels for spiritual exploration.
Additionally, nature therapy is a great opportunity for tapping into the brain’s natural propensity for mindfulness. Simply being out in nature makes it easier to feel rooted in the present moment. Since there aren’t any distractions around, it’s easier to connect with something bigger than yourself and tune out the little day-to-day stressors that prevent you from living authentically. In this way, nature therapy is not just a creative and insightful process, but a healing agent—a resource for regulating your emotions and staying grounded when you’re overwhelmed.
How Can Nature Therapy Benefit Your Life?
At Harmony Harbor, we have witnessed so many clients experience shifts in their understanding while opening their hearts and minds to their surroundings. Oftentimes, they come into a session feeling “stuck” and then leave with heads held high, feeling a deeper, more mindful sense of presence as well as a stronger connection to their internal and external worlds. It’s deeply inspiring to watch people go from isolated to connected, and it’s why ecotherapy continues to be one of our main calling cards.
What’s more, the benefits of nature therapy can truly last. Some of them include:
- More connection to the present moment
- Fewer symptoms of daily stress
- Better emotional regulation skills
- A clearer sense of meaning and purpose
- More openness to spiritual questions
Simply put, when we’re surrounded by the beauty of the cosmos and the natural world, our lives tend to improve. We can engage with the present in new ways and recognize new possibilities of being that we may not have been aware of before. We can also access a deeper sense of spirituality, exploring energies that lie beyond the human realm and opening ourselves to what life has to offer beyond our small sphere of influence.
Lauren Radakovich, LMHC, Ecotherapist
We Are Most At Home In The Natural World Because We Are Part Of It
At Harmony Harbor, we recognize that sitting in an office is not what we, as humans, were designed to do. That’s why we take a nature-based approach to therapy, giving clients a holistic alternative to standard mental health counseling.
Our resident nature therapist, Lauren Radakovich, LMHC is formally trained as an eco-therapist. She studied ecopsychology in graduate school, spent two years living in the woods with an at-risk youth program, and has over a decade of experience exploring the human-nature relationship in both personal and academic contexts.
If you want to learn more about how nature therapy can benefit your life, you can use the contact form to connect with Lauren.
2201 Cantu Ct, Suite 104
Sarasota, FL 34232
We are located in the Live Oak Office Building