You’ll notice the beautiful tree on the home page banner. That is the tree I’m looking at now, as I type this, looking out over the West Bridgford Green Line.
When we have our face to face counselling sessions, we can see it through the doors onto the balcony. It’s also what I can see as I speak to you for our telephone counselling appointments.
It’s an Alder tree. I’ve learned that Venice is built on Alder wood ; it doesn’t rot. It is beautiful and provides shade for my living room on hot summer afternoons.
Nature plays an important role in our wellbeing and trees have a particular healing power.
The concept of the “Nature Dose” I’ll talk about more another time but spending a small amount of time each week absorbed in nature has psychological benefit. And it doesn’t have to be a day trip to the Derbyshire Hills; your own garden or local park is an excellent place to go.
“Forest Bathing” may sound slightly un-British, but really it’s just encouraging us, when we have the opportunity to go outside, to take notice of what’s going on around us. And it’s not really just about trees.
It might be hard to believe that just noticing the leaves growing, the birds tweeting or the smell of pollen (or that wonderful post-summer-rain smell) has a positive impact on our mental wellbeing, although I bet your own experience can confirm it.
This page on the National Trust website talks about Forest Bathing, if you’d like to learn more.
So you may notice the photograph on the banner changing as the seasons progress, but it will always be “my tree”.
If you decide you would like to include a larger “dose of nature” in our appointment, we can take a walk along the Green Line. Have a chat to me about it and we’ll see how we can include it.
I look forward to meeting you.
Michelle
