SEATTLE — Pursuing therapy for mental health has become a common practice. Many therapists in the Pacific Northwest and beyond, are now taking their sessions outside, for what has become known as nature-based therapy.
And the northwest is the perfect setting for it.
"There's just this kind of mystical sense about it," said Becky Robbins, a Bothell-based therapist who offers nature-based therapy in her practice. "It's a connected feeling."
KING 5 sat down with Robbins at Hamlin Park in Shoreline, an area that invites visitors to be immersed in nature.
Robbins' sessions give her clients a chance to peel away from the desk and step outside.
"So we walk out here, talking about something and then there's this moment. There's a moment where we notice and usually we both just breathe, and there's a landing that happens. You know, you just land," Robbins said.
Robbins made her own landing as a therapist after leaving a career in tech. After receiving her certifications, she started her practice in 2020, the year everything changed.
"When the pandemic hit, I was like, I know a little bit about going outside for therapy from a class I took," Robbins said.
Robbins added it was around April that year when she realized people would be locked down for a while.
"People didn't want to sit in their house and Zoom. Most of the people I saw were individuals maybe living alone or who just moved here," Robbins said.
The timing was fitting. Demand for therapy has gone up during the pandemic years, according to data from the National Health Interview Survey, posted by the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention.
Adults who received mental health treatment in the last year increased from 19.2 percent in 2019 to 21.6 percent 2021.
Now, people are pursuing it outdoors.
For Robbins, the trees, the dappled sunlight, and these leaves are her helpers.
"The therapist has a co-therapist. I mean, nature will give you a certain bird you'll find a stick and start connecting with it and things will emerge," Robbins said.
She adds a nature setting affords her sessions to go deeper.
"So there's a lot of somatic therapy within nature therapy, which is all body-based. Where are you feeling it? What are you noticing? And we don't do that when we're sitting on a couch," Robbins said.
For more information on nature-based therapy offerings in Western Washington, you can visit https://www.pnwnaturetherapy.com/
Mental health minders pursue benefits of 'nature-based' therapy: HealthLink
Several therapists based in the Pacific Northwest are now offering outdoor and nature-based therapy.