Advertisement 1

Pilot project connects nature walks with decreased depression, anxiety

A walk under the serene canopy of a treed forest may be a valuable tool in the fight to improve mental health, according to local experts.

Article content

A walk under the serene canopy of a treed forest may be a valuable tool in the fight to improve mental health, according to local experts.

Mood Walks, a pilot project for youth ages 16 to 24, is aimed at getting young people with mental illnesses into the outdoors and promoting the link between physical and mental health benefits.

A 2015 Stanford University-led study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science

Advertisement 2
Story continues below
Article content
Article content

, found a 90-minute walk in a nature setting showed “decreased activity in a region of the brain associated with a key factor in depression.”

Cynthia Brown, an occupational therapist with the Canadian Mental Health Association’s Windsor-Essex County Branch, helps guide up to eight clients on a weekly 60- to 90-minute trek through the heavily-forested Ojibway Park on the city’s west side.

Crissy Drew, left, and Cynthia Brown pause for a moment on July 19, 2016 at the Ojibway Nature Centre where the mental health experts take young people with mental illnesses for walks in the woods as part of a pilot project called Mood Walks.
Crissy Drew, left, and Cynthia Brown pause for a moment on July 19, 2016 at the Ojibway Nature Centre where the mental health experts take young people with mental illnesses for walks in the woods as part of a pilot project called Mood Walks. Photo by Nick Brancaccio /Windsor Star

The walks allow participants to get away from the noise of the city and to immerse themselves in the quiet calm of nature.

“(Ojibway Park) is a real gem within our city that I think is underappreciated,” Brown said. “But it’s actually close by on a bus route and it’s a beautiful little forest.

“The idea is not to just go on a walk, (although) it’s great to go on a walk, but there’s high forest where you’re actually in a canopy of trees and the benefits really are quite enhanced from that.”

Brown said a lot of the young people accessing the agency’s services “haven’t spent a whole lot of time in nature.”

The walks have opened them up to a whole new experience.

“We have had some really nice encounters with wildlife,” she said. “Coming across deer, in particular, where you can see many of (the participants) are quite delighted with coming that close to a deer, and other wildlife as well.”

Advertisement 3
Story continues below
Article content

The distraction of birds and wildlife, trees and flowers seems to open clients up as they relax.

“(Walking) will sometimes make the young clients a little more open to talking,” Brown said. “We see them engaging in appropriate social conversation with each other during the walk, either related to the walk itself or sometimes other things.”

The four-month test run, funded partially by the Ontario Sport and Recreation Communities Fund through the Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport, will get a financial boost Wednesday when the Johansen-Larsen Foundation presents a $1,000 grant for the program.

Brown said the project is targeted to youth in transition who are in non-traditional group therapy. It increases their physicality, energy, immunity, promotes improved mental health and reduces depression, anxiety and stress.

Mood Walks is being offered at 40 agencies across the province.

Crissy Drew, a life skills worker, said the project seems to be helping.

“We’re evaluating the program by tracking how happy the clients are, how anxious they are, how much energy they have — before and after the walks,” Drew said.

“Our trend is that energy and happiness tend to be increased at the end of the walk,” Brown added. “Anxiety tends to be decreased for the most part.”

That information will be conveyed back to CMHA Ontario, which launched the initiative. And once the pilot program is completed, Brown hopes participants will find ways to keep connecting with nature.

“We’re hoping to encourage them to continue,” she said.

jkotsis@postmedia.com

twitter.com/JulieKotsis

Article content
This Week in Flyers