Nature-Based Psychology: Creating a different kind of therapeutic experience to deeply reconnect our children and teens
What if therapy didn't always have to happen sitting across from someone in a therapy room?
For some children and young people, the traditional therapy environment can feel unfamiliar, restrictive or simply difficult to connect with.
A psychologist asking questions across a desk can sometimes feel very different from walking alongside someone, noticing a bird in a tree, collecting leaves, building something with sticks or sitting quietly under a shady tree.
This is where nature-based psychology comes in.
Nature-based psychology involves providing psychological therapy in a natural environment, intentionally incorporating the surroundings into the therapeutic process. Rather than simply taking a therapy session outside, the environment itself becomes part of the therapeutic work.
At Innerbloom Psychology, our nature-based sessions provide children and young people with an opportunity to explore emotions, relationships, identity, coping and psychological skills while moving, playing, creating and connecting with the natural world.
And importantly, the psychology doesn't disappear when we step outside. The evidence-based psychological approaches remain. What changes is the environment in which that work takes place.
Why take psychology outside?
Nature has long been associated with psychological wellbeing, but an emerging body of research is asking a more specific question:
Can nature actually become part of the therapeutic process?
A 2024 systematic review published in Health & Place examined how nature-based settings influence engagement with mental health services. The review synthesised nine studies and identified six important themes:
nature as a therapeutic tool
therapeutic relationships
changes in the power dynamic between therapist and client
nature as a safe space
patient-centred care
the risks and challenges associated with using natural environments.
The researchers concluded that integrating nature into mental health care may provide an alternative or complementary approach to enhancing engagement, while also emphasising that more rigorous research is needed to determine exactly which approaches work best for different populations.
This distinction is important.
We're not saying:
“Nature cures anxiety.”
We're saying:
“Nature may provide a different context in which psychological therapy can happen—and for some children and young people, that context may make therapy more accessible, engaging and meaningful.”
Nature can change the way therapy feels
Think about the difference between these two conversations.
Therapist:"Tell me about what's been happening with your friends."
versus:
"Let's go for a walk and see what we notice about how friendship shows up around us."
The psychological conversation can be the same but the experience can be very different.
A child might find it easier to talk when they're walking beside someone rather than sitting opposite them. They might naturally talk while throwing a ball, drawing in the dirt or collecting interesting objects. They might use something happening in their surroundings as a metaphor for something happening in their own life.
And sometimes, the most meaningful therapeutic moment isn't a question asked by the psychologist at all. It might be"Look at that tree. It's got a broken branch but it's still growing." That becomes an opening. A conversation about resilience.
Change.
Identity.
Adversity.
Or simply noticing that something can be imperfect and still have value.
The environment becomes part of the therapeutic toolkit
One of the most exciting aspects of nature-based psychology is that nature can become something we work with rather than simply something we sit beside.
For example, a psychologist might use:
🌿 Leaves and natural objects to explore thoughts, emotions or values.
🌳 Seasonal changes, transformation and environmental conditions as metaphors for identity, strengths, relationships or growth.
🪨 Rocks and sticks for creative, sensory or resilience activities.
🐦 Sounds and movement to practise grounding and present-moment awareness.
🌱 Growing and changing in nature as a way of exploring development and resilience.
🚶 Walking to support conversation and reflection.
🎨 Natural materials for art and expressive play.
The activity isn't the therapy by itself.
The psychologist's formulation, therapeutic relationship and psychological intervention are what make the activity therapeutic.
Nature-based psychology isn't just "going for a walk"
This is an important distinction. Nature-based psychology shouldn't be confused with simply taking a child for a walk while having a chat. The therapy remains purposeful, clinically informed and individually tailored.
For example, a child experiencing anxiety might use a nature-based session to practise:
noticing anxious thoughts without being 'stuck' by them through movement and sensory reconnection
identifying bodily signs of anxiety when in different environments
developing grounding strategies by shifting from inner to outer awareness
approaching rather than avoiding valued activities
building psychological flexibility through metaphors and finding a sense of meaning and purpose within the natural environment.
identifying personal strengths and values.
These ideas can be drawn from approaches such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and mindfulness, while creative and play-based activities can draw on principles from Gestalt and expressive/play therapy. The environment simply provides another medium through which those therapeutic processes can occur.
For children, play can be a language of therapy
Children don't always communicate their internal worlds by sitting down and explaining them. Sometimes they play them out.
They build.
They draw.
They collect.
They move.
They imagine.
They create stories.
They test boundaries.
They experiment.
They notice.
Nature can provide an enormous amount of material for this type of therapeutic work.
A child working through friendship difficulties might create a "friendship ecosystem", exploring what different relationships need to survive.
A child experiencing anxiety might create a physical representation of their "worry monster" and explore how they respond when it appears.
A young person navigating identity might create a nature-based representation of the different parts of themselves, exploring which parts feel authentic and which have been shaped by expectations from others.
The psychologist then helps connect the experience back to the child's thoughts, emotions, behaviours, relationships and values.
Nature may also change the therapeutic relationship
One of the findings from the 2024 systematic review that particularly interests us is the potential for nature to influence the relationship between therapist and client.
The review identified changes in power dynamics and therapeutic relationships as key themes across the literature. Natural environments can create a less formal and more collaborative setting, potentially allowing clients to experience the therapist as someone working alongside them rather than simply sitting in a position of authority.
For children and teenagers, this can be particularly meaningful.
Instead of:
"I'm here because adults think I need therapy."
the experience can become:
"We're doing something together, and I get to have a say in what happens."
That sense of collaboration doesn't replace professional boundaries or clinical expertise.
Instead, it can help create a therapeutic relationship where the young person has agency, choice and participation.
Nature doesn't have to mean "calm"
There's another misconception worth challenging. Nature-based psychology isn't necessarily about sitting quietly, breathing deeply and feeling peaceful.
Sometimes therapy might involve running, jumping, building, creating, exploring, laughing, getting messy, moving and being curious.
For some children, regulation doesn't begin with "sit still and calm down."
It begins with movement, sensory engagement and connection.
Nature offers opportunities for all of these things.
But nature-based psychology isn't right for everyone
An evidence-informed approach also means recognising the limitations. Nature isn't automatically therapeutic for every person. Some children may find outdoor environments overwhelming. Others may have sensory sensitivities, mobility considerations, allergies, fears or safety concerns. Weather, privacy, accessibility and environmental hazards also need to be considered carefully.
The 2024 systematic review specifically identified risk and participation challenges as important considerations when providing mental health care in natural environments.
This is why nature-based psychology requires thoughtful clinical planning.
At Innerbloom Psychology, outdoor sessions are planned with consideration of:
the child's individual needs
weather and environmental conditions
privacy and confidentiality
physical safety
accessibility
appropriate boundaries
emergency procedures
the suitability of the environment
the child's capacity to participate safely.
The park is the setting. The psychologist remains responsible for providing psychological care.
So, does the research prove nature-based psychology works?
Not yet—not in the sense that we can say there is one established "nature-based psychology treatment" that works for everyone.
The evidence is promising, but researchers continue to call for stronger studies, particularly studies examining specific populations and longer-term outcomes.
More recent research is beginning to examine nature-based interventions specifically with young people. A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis of 25 group-based nature interventions for adolescents found improvements in mental health outcomes, with particularly promising findings for wellbeing, resilience, self-esteem and social connectedness. However, the authors rated the overall certainty of evidence as low to very low because of methodological limitations and substantial variation between programs.
That's an important message for families:
Nature-based psychology isn't a replacement for evidence-based psychological therapy.
It is an emerging way of delivering psychological therapy within a natural environment, with promising evidence that the environment may support engagement and aspects of mental health and wellbeing. And we want to add to this growing body of literature at Innerbloom Psychology...
What might a nature-based psychology session actually look like?
There isn't one formula. We are exploring different ways to meet children where they are, with nature and our clients as our guide and teacher.
We want to collect data on how this unique approach is received by the people it is designed for. So we will be exploring a model:
Rate how you arrive: Rating scales are frequently used in psychology to track a client's progress. We have developed our own rating scale, based the well-researched 'Óutcome Rating Scale (ORS)' for clients to rate how they arrive to the session.
Be Wildly Mindful: However the client arrives, we can choose a 'Wildly Mindful' exercise to familiarize ourselves with the natural space and start to form a relationship with it. We have created a range of mindfulness activities that engage the senses, move our bodies, create, imagine and observe.
Create, reflect, move, interact, challenge: this part of the session is unique to each client, depending on their therapeutic goals, age, stage and abilities. One session might involve walking through the park while talking about friendships. Another might involve creating an artwork from natural materials. Another might use a mindfulness activity to practise noticing thoughts and sensations. And sometimes, the session might simply involve sitting beneath a tree and having a conversation that felt easier to have outside than it would have inside.
Debrief and re-assess: Just like a typical therapy session, we will discuss the core themes and highlights from the session and explore any tasks to try at home. Part of this debrief might include bringing the parent into the session or having a conversation with them privately. We will also re-assess the client's rating scale to see if anything has shifted from the beginning of the visit.
The goal isn't to make every session "about nature".
The goal is to use the natural environment when it adds something meaningful to the therapy.
Sometimes changing the environment changes the conversation
For some children and young people, therapy can feel like something that happens to them.
Someone asks questions.
They answer.
Someone takes notes.
They are expected to talk about difficult things.
Nature-based psychology offers another possibility.
Let's explore it together.
Let's notice.
Let's move.
Let's create.
Let's play.
Let's pause.
Let's be curious.
And let's use whatever we find along the way to better understand what's happening inside.
Because sometimes, changing where therapy happens can change how therapy happens.
And when a child feels more comfortable, engaged and involved in the process, that can create more opportunities for meaningful psychological work.
Nature-based psychology at Innerbloom Psychology
At Innerbloom Psychology, our nature-based sessions bring psychological therapy outdoors while maintaining the same commitment to evidence-informed, individualised care.
Sessions may incorporate psychological approaches including ACT, mindfulness, creative therapies and play-based strategies, depending on the child's needs and therapeutic goals.
Rather than asking children to simply talk about what they're experiencing, we can sometimes help them experience, explore and make sense of it in a different way.
Because therapy doesn't always need four walls.
Sometimes, it needs a little more room to grow.
Interested in nature-based psychology sessions for your child or young person? Psychologist | Innerbloom Psychology | Pascoe Vale
Evidence & further reading
Troughton, A., Chin, M., & Amankwaa, I. (2024). Nature as a therapeutic place and tool for enhancing service users’ engagement in mental health services: A comprehensive synthesis of evidence. Health & Place, 89, 103344. The systematic review synthesised nine studies and identified nature's potential role in therapeutic relationships, engagement, patient-centred care, perceived safety and power dynamics, while highlighting the need for stronger clinical research.
2026 systematic review and meta-analysis: Systematic review and meta-analysis investigating nature-based interventions for adolescent mental health: Program characteristics and effectiveness. This review examined 25 studies involving adolescents aged 11–19 and found promising improvements in mental health, while emphasising the low-to-very-low certainty of the current evidence.
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