Therapy Gone Wild
(Warning: This piece discusses suicide, self-harm, and mental illness.)
The wilderness has long provided solace to humans, welcoming us in all our troubled incarnations onto its surging rivers, lonely backcountry trails, and windswept mountain summits. Into the wild we carry our troubles, frustrations, and our angst, to shake it all off on the flanks of rugged ranges and raging seas, trading sweat and adrenaline for the sense of calm that nature—effortlessly and always—instils in our busy minds.
Whatever the magic that nature works on us, it’s something that outdoors-loving people have trusted for centuries. Nature soothes us, and in troubled times, sizing ourselves up against all that nature can throw back at us can be precisely the salve we need. Sometimes, sweating and struggling, facing challenges and solving problems (and more than likely getting scared out of our wits) empowers us just enough to head back home and face whatever it is that’s waiting for us. Whether we understand it or not, ‘rewilding’ works.
On the Northern NSW coast, a team of clinical psychologists is taking this ‘nature as therapy’ idea literally, swapping the clinician’s couch for hiking trails, canoes, and sailboats, and doing their best work outdoors. Andy Hamilton is the therapeutic lead and
