What Is Outdoor Therapy? A New Name for an Old Therapeutic Practice

Abstract

Humans are integrally connected to, yet in many ways disconnected from, nature. Across cultures, nature has been celebrated and revered in religion, traditions, rituals and community connectedness. While unfavorable conditions in nature can cause harm, closer contact with nature has been shown to reduce stress, strengthen immune systems, and improve mental health and physical wellbeing. This paper briefly describes outdoor therapies and a range of nature-based interventions assisting practitioners in serving their clients across numerous healthcare and psychological treatment fields. We bring attention to the historical integration of nature in healing practices and reduced connection with nature that many Western societies experience today. We know no one psychotherapeutic approach is necessarily better or more effective than another, but rather, we propose that outdoor therapies offer an evolutionary approach to human health beyond psychotherapy. The added value of therapy outdoors recognizes that we are biologically a part of nature, and healthier when in connection to it. To locate this approach within the corpus of conventional therapeutic literature, a brief overview is offered, and common factors of outdoor therapies are proposed.