A world nourished by nature
Nature Therapy CIC
  • Home
  • Free Activities
  • Courses
  • Older people
  • Adults
  • Families
  • Children
  • Store
  • Nature Therapy blog
  • Intranet
  • Product
  • Drum Medicine Course
  • Order form Senior Sense Box

Hearts and Minds Nourished by Nature

Dr Kim Brown, Founder Director of Nature Therapy CIC

PLEASE NOTE - A NUMBER OF PEOPLE WHO WRITE ESSAYS FOR A LIVING ARE COPYING ITEMS FROM THIS BLOG. THIS IS KNOWN AS PLAGARIASM. IF YOU ARE FOUND TO HAVE USED ANY OF THIS INFORMATION WITHOUT WRITTEN CONSENT THEN YOUR UNIVERSITY, SCHOOL OR COLLEGE WILL BE INFORMED.

Home

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and Nature Therapy

25/7/2014

3 Comments

 
Picture
Forces of Nature programme

Many individuals with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can feel overwhelmed in situations with high levels of sensory input. Examples of this includes being in crowds or in situations with complex sensory characteristics such as where noise or lights are intense. These difficulties appear to be related to subtle sensory processing changes where visual and auditory processing has been found to be substantially altered in PTSD. Changes in sensory processing are thought to be responsible for the feelings of hyper arousal and flooding that are often experienced.

Bearing this in mind, it is hardly surprising that we find individuals with PTSD living off grid in remote locations,  trying to avoid situations where they would experience sensory overload, and finding some relief by being out in the natural world.

Nature offers opportunities for gentle all round sensory experiences that are based in an environment that is generally well known to participants and many feel at home with. Therefore, nature can be a tool for helping those with PTSD come to some understanding of their own personal way of being.

The Forces of Nature programme is a six week programme where each week we focus on a different sense. Each workshop, or Quest as we prefer to call them, provides the catalyst for participants to become immersed in that sense at their own pace and to their own level.  The aim is for participants to start to develop their own self insights into their own way of being through a process of sensory mapping whilst feeling part of bonded group.

Sensory approaches are becoming increasingly popular in mental health interventions because they provide experiential opportunities for participants to develop self-insight into their own sensory experiences and learn to begin to heal the mind through the physical sensations of their body. These experiences help to contradict feelings of being overwhelmed, helpless and paralysed - as sensory experiences can help foster feelings of safety. 

The programme takes place in a group situation in different areas of outstanding natural beauty such as woodland, cliffs or beaches.  It is run as a closed group in order to help individuals network with people they may not know and begin to feel safe with in a social group. Each group contains ex members of the armed forces and also community members that are able to provide additional support if required. Many of the group members have personal experience of PTSD.  

Elements of Mindfulness are introduced at each Quest which provides for participants to practice this approach to help them deal with sensory situations that may feel overwhelming at any time in the future.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) medical pathway recommends trauma focused cognitive behavioural treatment for PTSD and states that there appears to be no convincing evidence for hypnotherapy, psychodynamic therapy, or systemic psychotherapy. However, NICE does identify the need for social support - which is an aim of the Forces of Nature programme.

Nature therapy provides for a nurturing, healing and trauma informed approach to PTSD as an adjunct to medically prescribed treatment.

For further information please feel free to contact Dr Kim Brown on 07922617479


3 Comments
Louise Taylor
6/12/2017 06:33:51 pm

I am looking into possibly doing a PHD in PTSD and nature therapy/ ecopsychology. I would love to discuss the work you do if at all possible. Many thanks. Louise Taylor

Reply
Dr Kim Brown link
6/12/2017 07:46:58 pm

Thanks for your comment Louise and an interesting subject to research. We currently deliver a programme called Wolf Medicine that evolved from our earlier work on PTSD. In 2018 we are delivering a programme to help others understand the basis of sensory work if you are interested and speaking at a conference run by Confer in London in January - meanwhile happy to answer any questions. Kind regards Kim

Reply
Anna Fife Telmer
18/2/2018 09:56:51 pm

A Reaction to a Fellow Traumatized Humans
Sensory triggers are hard to pinpoint (and even harder to avoid) because we tend to look for a clear and distinct factor in our reactions. What is harder yet typically more effective in my experience, is absorbing all the chemical changes at once and funneling them somewhere open. This seems counterproductive because it is unorganized, but nothing will ever be organized for long, so getting used to dealing with everything at once provides the opportunity to grow beyond getting over what “triggers” me.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Dr Kim Brown

    Archives

    April 2020
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    March 2019
    December 2018
    May 2018
    August 2017
    May 2017
    September 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from HikingArtist.com, Schwarzwert Naturfotografie, bagsgroove, symphony of love, vastateparksstaff, Martin Pettitt, Vilmos.Vincze, Sam Droege, rs-foto, TAKUMA KIMURA, Sumana Khanom, Joybot, Mr. Frosty Man, VinothChandar