Outside the boxes

Medical providers are increasingly prescribing nature therapy – like walks, hikes, or recreational activities – as a way to help children and adults cope with life stressors. First popularized in Japan as "forest bathing," this practice has been shown to decrease a patient's anxiety and depression and increase their ability to concentrate.

PHS LandCare, with support from the city, develops small vacant lots into mini-parks that bring people out of their homes and engage with their community. A 2018 study found that people living near LandCare lots reported a decrease in feelings of depression and a reduction in feelings of poor mental health. The city's role is important to the program’s success, especially in providing money to hire contractors to maintain the green spaces, especially local residents and formerly incarcerated people. Sites must be in low-income neighborhoods and near business areas, schools, and recreation centers.

FC Sækó is an amateur Icelandic football club that is jointly sponsored by the Football Association of Iceland and the psychiatric department at Iceland’s University Hospital. It brings together players between the ages of 20 and 60 who are in treatment for mental health issues. The traveling team helps participants combat isolation and provides a routine where they have training responsibilities. The success inspired another team in Akureyri. Around 200 people also benefit from other free stress-management services and activities at the hospital, like nature walks, swimming, and acupuncture.

Park Rx America is an online platform that helps the growing number of medical professionals who write nature prescriptions for their patients. The database contains thousands of parks and public lands, which prescribers can filter by activity, distance from a patient's home, and other amenities like whether there is a playground for kids. Growing numbers of doctors are prescribing outdoor activities as a treatment for conditions like obesity and anxiety. Writing out actual prescriptions with specific directions about where to go, what to do, and how often to go increases the likelihood of success.

A mental health awareness and suicide prevention nonprofit Building Hope in Summit County, CO is teaming up with another nonprofit called Snowboarders and Skiers for Christ to host a scavenger hunt that educates Coloradans about suicide prevention and raises funds for community mental health initiatives and programs. The scavenger hunt combines a popular physical activity (skiing) with mental or physical puzzles that require participants to learn something about mental health before moving on to the next challenge. The program, called Secret Spot, aims to tackle the taboo around mental health.

A Canadian doctor partnered with the British Columbia Parks Foundation to launch PaRx, A Prescription for Nature. The program helps health care providers prescribe time in nature for patients experiencing depression and anxiety related to climate change.

Mindfulness and meditation practices have been shown to reduce stress and neurological biomarkers of aging while also improving an individual's mood, resilience, and cognitive performance. To help connect caregivers to these practices, some programs are now offering classes at community centers.

In New Hampshire, a healing and bonding program is offering veterans and first responders experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder ways to cope with their stressors. From social interactions to equine therapy, participants have reported that the program has had a positive impact on their wellbeing.

The UK is home to an artificial surfing lagoon that aims to help those with disabilities have access to water sports they otherwise may not be able to participate in. Acting as both a physical and mental rehabilitation methodology, The Wave was designed "to make sure the space was accessible physically and in terms of culture, to make sure that all people have the same opportunities on site as each other and to normalise being around people who have got physical or mental health issues."

In Nigeria, a psychologist and a small group of medical students aimed to change the perception around mental health care by launching an online campaign inviting people to attend a fair. The turnout was so successful, that the group began hosting monthly workshops that have now spread to 13 states across Nigeria.