Ecotherapy is the name given to a wide range of treatment programmes which aim to improve your mental and physical well-being through doing outdoor activities in nature.

Connecting with nature in this way can have lots of positive health benefits.

Ecotherapy, also known as nature therapy or green therapy, is the applied practice of the emergent field of ecopsychology, which was developed by Theodore Roszak.

Ecotherapy, in many cases, stems from the belief that people are part of the web of life and that our psyches are not isolated or separate from our environment.

Ecopsychology is informed by systems theory and provides individuals with an opportunity to explore their relationship with nature – an area that may be overlooked in many other types of psychotherapy.

While some professionals teach and practice ecopsychology exclusively, other mental health practitioners incorporate aspects of ecotherapy into their existing practices.