Innovative programs are merging mental health assistance with outdoor ventures (Credit: Getty Images)
These initiatives blend outdoor activities with mental health support for individuals seeking to enhance their wellbeing, regardless of diagnosis.
At the summit of a hill in England’s Peak District, life coach Zaidha Roscoe guides our group through an exercise designed to anchor us in the current moment and achieve tranquility. “Pay attention to five things you can observe, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste,” she instructs. I recognize vibrant hiking gear against a bright blue sky. Run my fingers over the soft grass. Listen to a pair of singing birds. Inhale the fresh autumn air. And munch on nutty trail mix.
This marks the beginning of various mindfulness and nature engagement activities we will partake in during this six-mile trek through Chatsworth Estate with Mind Over Mountains. This organization facilitates complimentary wellbeing hikes and affordable weekend retreats led by mountain guides and certified counselors or coaches in national parks and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty throughout the UK. It is among a few initiatives – including Blackdog Outdoors in the UK and Hiking My Feelings in the US – that integrate outdoor activities with mental health support for those looking to enhance their wellbeing, regardless of diagnosis.
These organizations address a significant void in the outdoor and wellness sectors. Half of the global populace will encounter a mental health disorder during their lifetime. Yet, while many venues provide self-care experiences like yoga or forest bathing, these programs often fail to cultivate an environment that encourages participants to share their depression with instructors or to discuss grief with fellow attendees. Consequently, many individuals may feel alone and unsupported in such contexts.
Keridwen Cornelius
Mind Over Mountains organizes complimentary wellbeing hikes and affordable weekend getaways in breathtaking UK locations (Credit: Keridwen Cornelius)
Organizations such as Mind Over Mountains foster an environment where conversations surrounding emotions and challenges are embraced. At our initial stop along the journey, Rob Kenning, a member of the wellness crew, shares with our group, “Today, I’ve brought along confident leader Rob, but there’s also a more vulnerable version of myself I’m less inclined to reveal, as it poses a challenge to my more masculine side. I encourage you all to bring as much of yourselves as you are comfortable sharing – physically, mentally, emotionally. You know your limits regarding safety in sharing.”
We traverse the path through a wooded area and arrive at a 16th-Century hunting lodge. Kenning encourages us to express how we feel in this moment in comparison to our initial state. Three participants confess they almost opted out due to anxiety about meeting unfamiliar individuals, or because this location evokes memories of outings with a loved one who has recently passed. However, they all express relief that they gathered the courage to participate.
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I anticipated the atmosphere on a mental health walk could be somber, but the dialogue is friendly, candid, and encouraging. As we wander through a beech woodland and enjoy lunch by a lake, we take pleasure in capturing images of red and purple mushrooms and savor the soft moss on twisted trees. If someone requires a private conversation with Roscoe or Kenning regarding personal matters, they temporarily step aside or linger back, allowing the rest of us the time and space. It feels like a casually orchestrated dance of empathy and kindness.
Multiple attendees and guides express to me that walking side-by-side in nature facilitates sharing their challenges or engaging in profound conversations more easily than being indoors, facing a family member or a mental health practitioner. “Being in nature relaxed me and prompted me to open up,” shares Matt Heaton, who took part in a Mind Over Mountains retreat in 2022. “It just felt liberating because it’s such a stunning location. And there were moments when I truly felt a connection with nature and the world.”
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Research shows a strong connection between nature connectedness and mental wellbeing (Credit: Getty Images)
Andy Higson, a civil engineer who founded Blackdog Outdoors, had a similar realization in a cabin atop Mt Elbrus in Russia. While he conversed with fellow mountaineers about their motivations for reaching the summit, they articulated nature as their form of therapy – a means to escape the rapid tempo of life, to test themselves, and to attain equilibrium. “That prompted me to reflect,” Higson states. “If I recognize that nature is truly beneficial for me, and these individuals I’ve never encountered before from various regions of the globe share the same sentiment, why aren’t more individuals utilizing the outdoors as a method for coping with mental health?”
Upon researching this inquiry, Higson discovered numerous individuals encounter obstacles to participating in outdoor activities, including anxiety, lack of skills, and financial constraints. In an effort to assist individuals in overcoming these challenges, he established Blackdog Outdoors. The organization hosts approximately 120 complimentary hiking, climbing, and paddling day trips annually, as well as affordable mountain skills training.
Why aren’t more individuals utilizing the outdoors as a method for coping with mental health? – Andy Higson
Blackdog Outdoors’ activities are designed for beginners or individuals who have previously participated in outdoor sports but have lost their confidence or motivation to engage alone. The excursions are conducted by outdoor specialists and trained mental health first aiders, rather than professional therapists. Although the organization does not include mindfulness practices, the mental health supporters are available to assist with everything from discussing relationships to easing worries about daunting activities.
Keridwen Cornelius
The guides, like Rob Kenning at Mind Over Mountains, provide professional mental wellbeing support in a relaxed environment (Credit: Keridwen Cornelius)
Through surveys, both Blackdog Outdoors and Mind Over Mountains have determined that more than 90% of participants notice a lasting benefit to their mental health from the activities. Heaton was so motivated by his experience with Mind Over Mountains that he trained to become a mental health first-aider and completed a marathon to fundraise for the charity. “I still, to this day, say it’s the best weekend I’ve ever experienced,” he remarks.
Ruth Israel, who took part in a Mind Over Mountains retreat, states, “The walk served as a catalyst for optimism and personal development. In retrospect, the enduring effect is beyond what you could anticipate from merely one walk. I’d never belonged to such an accepting, non-judgmental community before… I’ve become significantly more open about discussing my own challenges to inspire and support others.”
When I join a Blackdog Outdoors hike in the Peak District, one of the guides comments that it’s the sort of day he’d usually choose to remain indoors. We put on our waterproof jackets and knitted hats to shield ourselves from the drizzly wind and trudge through a primordial sea of mud. Even a participant’s shepherd dog, who began the hike with typical canine eagerness, gazes at us as if we’re insane as we lift him up slick rocks by a steep waterfall.
Surprisingly, it’s enjoyable. During these mental health hikes, I’ve realized that the discussions foster connection and theguides are beneficial, yet our primary group counselor is the magnificent outdoors. Nature appears to reflect various facets of ourselves and softly communicates symbolic insights.
Keridwen Cornelius
Blackdog Outdoors facilitates complimentary outdoor group excursions, ranging from canoeing in Wales to trekking in the Peak District (Credit: Keridwen Cornelius)
While participating in a Mind Over Mountains activity aimed at finding a tree that resonated with us, a woman and I are captivated by a rowan tree whose shimmering trunks branch out and then intertwine. She contemplates the choices she has made and the winding journey her life has undertaken. As we rest beside a river, Roscoe encourages us to reflect on the aspects we need to let go and allow to drift away.
On this excursion with Blackdog Outdoors, the brisk rain, slick rocks, and steep inclines compel us to discover our inner strengths, endure difficulties, and reach out for support. Soon after, the sun breaks through, illuminating the clouds and sparkling on Dovestone Reservoir. I recall the poem Wild Geese by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Mary Oliver, who discovered comfort for her sorrow in nature. Like the geese, everything in this stunning, radiant landscape seems to reach out in the face of solitude and hardship, “declaring [our] belonging in the family of entities”.
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Keridwen Cornelius
