#Connectwithnature for Mental Health Awareness Week 2021

This year, Mental Health Awareness Week (May 10–16) focuses on the importance of nature and the powerful benefits it brings to our mental health and wellbeing.

“When April arrives in the English Cotswolds, where Paul lives, the garden, fields and woods that surround his home are perfectly adapted for all manner of wildlife. There are particular areas of grasses and undergrowth that are attractive to the rabbits and hares; the robins return to their ideal nesting spots, selected and refined in previous years; and the field mice scurry around near the dry stone walls where they know they will feel safe and protected. Clearly, they are all in their ideal habitat. They feel at ease, at home, secure.

An organism’s natural habitat is simply the environment to which it has adapted to best survive. Its needs are met – it has access to food, shelter, water; it is where it can thrive, as long as the habitat itself remains healthy.”

This extract from Nature of Work: The new story of work for a living age illustrates how vital the connection with nature was for Paul whilst writing the book. Meanwhile, Shimrit’s connection with nature, living in London, was different but just as important, whether this was through looking out and observing the treetops from her high-rise window or enjoying time spent in parks during the strictest parts of lockdown.

As the Mental Health Foundation explains:

“Nature is so central to our psychological and emotional health, that it’s almost impossible to realise good mental health for all without a greater connection to the natural world. For most of human history, we lived as part of nature. It is only in the last five generations that so many of us have lived and worked in a context that is largely separated from nature. And it is only since a 1960s study in the US found that patients who were treated in hospitals with a view of nature recovered faster, that science has started to unpack the extraordinary health benefits.”

For more information:

• Click to find ways to #Connectwithnature as part of Mental Health Awareness week: https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/mental-health-awareness-week
• Mental Health Foundation tips – https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/sites/default/files/MHAW21_nature-top-tips-v2.pdf
• Read an excerpt of Nature of Work: www.natureofwork.com

Categorised in: Digital workplace, Future of work, Nature of Work