Thrive with Nature

22/04/2023

I made a little something to celebrate our earth, today and every day. Click the link to see the full infographic. Please share.
Let's thrive with nature!
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/2146/4125/files/Thrive_With_Nature_infographic.png?v=1680487730

23/10/2022

"Ultimately, when our world is grey, so are we.... Greening the grey can rebuild the human-nature relationship, both through providing opportunities for people to take part in caring for nature, but also to enjoy a greener and more colourful world." Prof. Miles Richardson.

The climate stripes were created by Professor Ed Hawkins at the University of Reading in 2018. A simple series of vertical coloured bars, showing the heating of the planet over 200 years. The strip…

27/09/2022

Can we conjure a quiet lake to help you unwind? If you linger awhile on each photo... letting your eyes wander over clouds and water... it just might feel like you're there with us on this remote BC lake.
For the full experience: listening to loon calls and songbirds while exploring an ingenious beaver dam, visit my blog post: https://gardenactivitysigns.com/blogs/shelaghs-blog/can-i-conjure-a-quiet-lake-for-you

28/05/2022

Ready to grow a daily nature practice that calms your stress, lightens your mood & puts bounce back in your step? You might know that it doesn’t take much time (or much nature) to get these evidence-based benefits.

What it DOES take is holding onto your intention & actually doing it! Gently banishing those excuses! Yes, you’re too busy serving others to take time for yourself. Yes, you’re too tired at the end of the day. I know the excuses inside and out.

That’s why I created an interactive guide for you. It’s about shifting your mindset and your habits of attention. Taking restorative pauses to come back to yourself.

Starting small, you’ll develop enjoyable habits of noticing nearby nature for mere moments in the midst of your busy schedule. I got such relief and energy from these green micro-breaks that I was motivated to go further, establishing ever more habits of connecting with nature FOR MYSELF throughout the day. Allow me to share them with you?

If you’re ready for relief from the hectic pace… if you would like support to create a daily practice that you WANT to keep up… then I invite you to join me for a delightful nature romp.

I’m Shelagh Smith, HTR, MAEEC. As a horticultural therapist & educator, I've inspired 1000s of people to notice & engage with nearby nature for self-care over the last 27 years. Nature appreciation saved me from burnout & continues to bring me more joy than I knew was possible.

My online program includes 6 multimedia modules to guide you, worksheets to prompt reflection & capture your progress, questionnaires to customize your program, multiple-choice quizzes to review your learning, a completion certificate & a heap of optional resources to dive into.

All of that to support you in creating sticky habits of letting nearby nature restore you every. single. day. In ways that work for YOU! Your schedule, your location, your nature preferences.

Here's what Gina said:
"That was amazing! Thank you for slowing my mind & body. To bring nature to the forefront of my life & remind me how to play again has made such a difference. Each day I see the world in a different way. Taking nature breaks energizes me. Thank you for sharing your expertise with us!" – Georgina Hartman, Recreation Therapy Assistant, Sherwood Park, Alberta

Click the link to go directly to the enrollment page for A Daily Nature Practice, where you can watch a free 36-minute video, learn more about the program, & enroll. https://thrive-with-nature.teachable.com/p/a-daily-nature-practice

Come play! The next cohort starts June 1st, but you can begin as soon as you enroll. See you in the comments!

20/05/2022

This advice falls short when you need restoration. There’s one simple nature practice you can do that makes all the difference. I’d love to share it with you in my free online workshop for healthcare professionals: ‘Let Nearby Nature Restore You.’ https://www.thrivewithnature.com/let-nearby-nature-restore-you/

19/05/2022

What I know to be true, as a horticultural therapist of many years, as a keen reader of research, and as a survivor of extreme caregiving, is that nearby nature has much more to offer us than we give it credit for.

AND that the usual advice to ‘spend time in nature’ is woefully inadequate when we need restoration, as so many healthcare professionals do.

Nature can ease symptoms of burnout and restore your energy. Your healthcare colleagues are getting these results, and you can too. Allow me to tell you my story, show you the evidence, and share examples of healthcare organizations offering nature for employee wellness.

Watch my 36-minute recorded workshop: ‘Let Nearby Nature Restore You’.
https://www.thrivewithnature.com/let-nearby-nature-restore-you/

Imagine relaxing, recharging, and feeling ready for whatever’s next in your day. I’d like you to experience the full restorative benefits available from nearby nature.

25/04/2022

Garden breaks can reduce stress and fatigue for healthcare providers. Is there access to outdoor nature where you work?

Legacy Health (Portland, Oregon) is making therapeutic gardens a top priority for reducing staff stress & fatigue & for encouraging staff to take regular breaks in the garden near their unit. Legacy Health's interdisciplinary therapeutic garden design process & their RCT studies are leading the way....

23/04/2022

Space to breathe...

13/01/2022

Is winter a snowy wonderland to enjoy? Or a miserable slog in the cold and dark? What if I told you that how we think about winter makes a difference in how we feel?

A surprising bit of research could thaw our frozen winter mindsets, improve our mental health and enhance our sense of wellbeing.

Read about 3 simple strategies in my new blog post on winter mindset & well-being. https://gardenactivitysigns.com/blogs/shelaghs-blog/improve-your-winter-mindset-well-being-with-these-3-strategies

If this topic resonates with you, here's an interactive online workshop with the researcher:
January 19, 2022
​Wintertime Mindset: Norwegian Strategies for Enjoying Winter​
​With Kari Leibowitz​
Stanford Continuing Studies Webinar
12-1pm PST
Free & Online
Register here: https://continuingstudies.stanford.edu/wintertime-mindsets-webinar​

May you thrive with nature this winter!

Is winter a snowy wonderland to enjoy? Or a miserable slog in the cold and dark? What if I told you that how we think about winter makes a difference in how we feel? A surprising bit of research could thaw our frozen winter mindsets, improve our mental health and enhance our sense of wellbeing.

23/11/2021

Would you like to encourage someone you care about to take a nature break? A hard-working colleague? A dear friend or family member? Maybe your garden program participants? Or maybe you want to remind yourself!

My garden activity signs can help. That's why I created them: to offer the calming and energizing benefits of brief nature breaks.
You can place the signs in outdoor gardens, indoor plants, or give them as gifts. The signs offer permission, instruction and an irresistible invitation to connect with nature.

It might be just what you and your peeps need to brighten your day!

Garden activity signs are 20% off through November 30th.

Use this link to automatically apply 20% discount at checkout: https://gardenactivitysigns.com/discount/Friday21

Discount also available on my Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/GardenActivitySigns

What a unique gift for any gardener or nature lover on your list!

There's a set of 6 sensory invitation signs, and a set of 6 hands-on gardening prompts. Three sizes are available to fit wherever you wish.

I designed the signs to use in healthcare gardens and therapeutic garden programs, but they're also in use in school gardens, community gardens, public and private gardens.

Where will you place them? Let me know in the comments!

11/05/2021

Fabulous resource on nature mental health week.

Noticing and appreciating nature provides more restorative benefit than simply spending time outdoors. That's what my free workshop is all about: 'Let Nearby Nature Restore You', available again soon. Get on the wait list at www.ThriveWithNature.com

Here's the UK resource. How will you put this info to use for yourself and for your peeps? https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/campaigns/nature/nature-research

Executive summary Our relationship with nature – how much we notice, think about and appreciate our natural surroundings – is a critical factor in supporting good mental health and preventing distress. Nature is an important need for many and vital in keeping us emotionally, psychologically and ...

03/02/2021

Imagine experiencing the full restorative benefits of nearby nature in your busy daily life. Imagine feeling relaxed, recharged, and ready for whatever’s next in your day. Click here to watch the workshop replay and receive a special offer for my online program that expires Feb 4: https://thrive-with-nature.teachable.com/p/a-daily-nature-practice-online-program

24/01/2021

Sound too good to be true? Three large healthcare organizations are doing just that. They’re on the leading edge of employee wellness. But you don’t need to wait for your employer to get with it.
Join me for a free online workshop for healthcare professionals: ‘Let Nearby Nature Restore You.’
Register now at www.thrivewithnature.com.
Live on Monday, February 1st at noon PST. Can't make it live? Register and I'll send you the replay.
Tag your friends & colleagues to join you!

22/01/2021

This advice falls short when you need restoration, and especially when you don’t have much time. There’s one simple nature practice you can do that makes all the difference, no matter where you are. I’d love to share it with you. Join me for my free online workshop for healthcare professionals: ‘Let Nearby Nature Restore You.’ Monday, February 1st at noon PST. Register now at www.thrivewithnature.com

25/12/2020

“In December, pandemic or no pandemic, the winter solstice comes to us all, which I think of as an immensely happy day, because then the light begins to come back, and nothing can stop it. This sense of nature as an unstoppable force has been strongly impressed on me (and doubtless on many others) by the great world-historical event of the coronavirus, tragic paradox though that may be; nature, which has been lost to sight so widely, has suddenly been made visible once again by the pandemic, by the extraordinary circumstance of the anthropause, and most of all, by people’s own need to seek out nature as a relief from unprecedented stress. Those who have sought it have not been disappointed in the natural world, in its ability to console us, repair us, and recharge us; most of all, in its ability simply to be there, often unrecognized and unacknowledged, but giving life to every one of us, even as human artifacts are crumbling all around.”

As urbanization increasingly severs humanity from the living world, naturalist Michael McCarthy explores the ways in which the “anthropause” ushered in by the coronavirus has made nature visible again.

14/12/2020

"Most people have a relationship to nature where they appreciate it and are glad it's there, but not until a time of crisis do they realize how much they turn to it or how restorative it can be."

Florence Williams talks about the profound effect nature has on our mental health and sense of belonging.

13/12/2020

Stunning ephemeral bird art made of forest materials

“It is the ephemeral nature of what I do that has become like therapy for my soul.”

11/12/2020

BC Parks Foundation plans to raise $250,000 to provide 10,000 health care workers with free forest baths to reduce pandemic-related stress