NATURE IN MIND

Scientists are alerting us to the potentially catastrophic effects of global warming. Some are researching the sixth species extinction, predicted to be the most devastating since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs at the end of the cretaceous age. And it's not just 'exotic' animals like the Sumatran rhino at risk, but Britain has recently seen a staggering loss of birds and plants such that Mother Nature is becoming more silent. You notice this loss personally. I do four seasonal walks in West Penwith, Cornwall and last time scarcely heard a bird except for a few swallows, distant curlews, oyster catchers but no cuckoos any more. I wondered how long the dolphins I saw might survive the plastic polluted sea. One question was, "What will be left of these birds and wildlife for our grandchildren?' And, 'What will we say to them?'

At the same time, people are taking a renewed interest in what Roger Duncan in his exciting new book calls the Nature and the Wilderness effects, where he researches the therapeutic and well-being benefits. When we walk the land, digitally detox and engage with nature, we feel refreshed, renewed, more alert, at peace with ourselves, centred and well. The growing Forest Schools movement stems from the discovery that young children love woods, love nature, feel secure and delight in creative play, though some nature starved children need support. When I recently opened the learning centre of Apricot Wellbeing Services at Huxhams Cross Farm, Totnes, Devon, I told the story of one of their severely disturbed nine-year-old clients who refused school, had short attention and a low frustration level. After a few weeks feeding the chickens, making friends with the two cows, gardening, finding her peaceful place and generally enjoying herself in a trusting relationship with her therapist and the farmers, she was able to return happily to school.

So, we know they work, but just how do the nature and wilderness effects work? And what does 'work' mean? Fortunately, help is at hand as Roger Duncan has mapped out how systemic ecopsychotherapy is emerging as a beneficial modality and profoundly effective approach. If nature-based therapy and wilderness journeys can help disturbed young offenders, one asks how might it be used for adolescents at risk of knife crime?

Nature in Mind draws on many fields such as family therapy, research into healthy human development, holistic education, ecopsychology, anthropology, indigenous traditions, outdoor work such as farming, forestry and crafts, so as to present an explicit understanding of the links between mental health and nature. Roger draws on his lives as a biologist, ecologist, Steiner teacher, Ruskin Mill forester, parent, running vison quests, wilderness camps, his NHS family therapist work, his reflective experiences and learning journeys so as to bring life to the theory and practice of systemic ecopsychotherapy.

To summarise, Roger explores the disconnect between our WEIRD, western, educated, industrial, rich and democratic world and nature. This cultural disconnect enables the destruction of Mother Nature, on which we depend, and also undermines our human health and psychological wellbeing. The profound thinking of Gregory Bateson and Henry Corbin shows how an understanding of the 'imaginal world' can deepen the practice of systemic psychotherapy and ecopsychology in providing a language encompassing both nature and mind. The case is argued for bringing nature-based methods into mainstream education and therapeutic practices. Readers are invited to radically reimagine the relationship between humans and the earth, with this practical guide to reconnecting our thinking and experience of nature.

One of the merits of the book is that it is relatively short, though the areas covered are wide ranging, including our indigenous heritage, wilderness experience, revisiting the epistemology of mind and nature, woods as an educational and therapeutic resource, imaginal, nature-based mapping tools, soul encounter beyond language, and reimagining human development.

This seminal work sets the scene for more reflective action research into nature based educational and therapeutic work, as well as for systemic ecopsychotherapy. It has the great merit of mapping and exploring an emerging field, and also gives a research based and theoretical rationale for a range of interventions which whilst we know they 'work', we also need to know the why, what and how. This can lead to further research and then more effective interventions.

One misperception that can arise from a superficial reading of this book, is the danger of an uncritical 'going back' to the wisdom of indigenous peoples, rather than learning from such wisdom traditions and lifeways in order to draw on them to inform innovative nature based and ecotherapeutic practices. One good example is the Native American vision quest for youth initiation, that has been carefully researched and transformed by the School of the Lost Borders.

Another concern I have is that, facing our current WEIRD challenges such as mental ill-health, the search for meaning, global warming, conflict, species extinction and inequality, any superficial approach to the solutions to such symptoms will neglect the profound changes needed such as the cultivation of ecosystemic thinking, imagination and deep experience of nature that Nature in Mind charts.

Lastly, to read his book and to walk with Roger is to see the world differently. And if there are any bones around on a walk, he will soon find them He recounts his seven-year-old experience of wonder finding a mouse skull. "I picked up the tiny skull..was transfixed by what I saw, not only because of the beauty and smoothness of the bones, but because of I experienced this beauty as an intense feeling of wellbeing inside myself.. I had become one with this delicate mouse skull, and it was an experience that began a lifelong interest in bones and a search to rediscover this deep experience of connection with nature again. This childhood experience led me to the study of biology, and later systemic psychotherapy, in search of a place where mind and nature connect.' (p. 2)