Nature Offers Healing and Healthy Challenges

Thank you to our guest blogger Siobhán Connelly, ACEs Victim Advocate, at Lakes Region Community Services-FRC, and Certified ANFT Forest Therapy Guide for this month’s Mayhew Blog!

During the first two summers the boys at Mayhew experience camp on Mayhew Island. The boys work together in small tight-knit groups, tackling physical, social and emotional challenges. For many of these young men it’s the first time they are away from home, away from the noise of their devices, and can embrace nature and what it can teach.  For many boys, Mayhew is their first opportunity to find out who they can be and how much they can do in a setting away from outside influences. Beginning in the third year, boys can participate in a five-day, adventure-based summer program.  Trips include canoeing, backpacking, biking, and nature and wilderness skills training.  Throughout the 8-year program Mayhew boys are outside exploring nature, partaking in healthy challenges, and in many cases healing along the way.  

Mayhew Island -Newfound Lake

🌲 Something I love to do is purposefully get just-lost-enough so I must find my way back to what’s familiar again. Whether scoping out new routes to make my commute more interesting, walking in the woods surrounding my house, or exploring a new place on a trip from time to time, I take opportunities to challenge myself in that way. You see, I lived with my grandparents growing up in a rural town where I was safe to wander as much as I pleased. I would go down our little sledding hill to the brook where the water bugs raced along when the water was high. Once I crossed that, I was in The Woods. I had learned where I could safely explore our land without disrespecting other people’s private property. Old and new logging tracks, snowmobile trails, an old van used for target practice long ago, a big slow river that cut its way through a hemlock grove, a swamp, deer beds. Once, I found a clearing that I was never able to find again. The woods seemed new each time I visited no matter how many times I had gone. When it was time to go home, I would have to really look around me – recall what I had seen on my way out and try to find those landmarks to get back to. Often, I would be able to pick my way back to my little brook. Sometimes, I would instead have to search for the sounds of cars so I could find one of the main roads to use on my way back home.   

I recognize this is not possible for all children and I was very fortunate to have access to this kind of natural space and the time and permission to explore it. But I wanted to share this as an example of how something I did in nature as a child provides me with skills I have needed as an adult to overcome challenges. The practice of problem-solving during times of stress and being calm rather than panic is something I use in my work as a victim’s advocate today. I have a good sense of direction and can find my way back to a house I’ve been to just once, which was important when I worked as a home visitor and tended to families in their own homes across the county. I am generally alert and aware of my surroundings, which keeps me safe and aware of what is available for problem-solving.  

How can children today find similar safe challenges and gain their unique benefits? Summer camps, time in parks and playgrounds, and regarding the wonder of plants thriving through cracks in the sidewalk all give children the opportunity to make important nature-connections. When children are given the chance to be in nature a certain kind of magic happens. Creativity is invited and so is play. I will admit that at some point during childhood, there is a time when it takes practice and encouragement to get a kid to focus on what’s around them outside. It’s normal for tweens and teens to be enmeshed in their social lives and inner world. There is a gentle but important challenge offered to both the adults and youth just by bringing a kid outside and getting them to let go and start noticing what’s around them rather than doomscroll or keeping up their Snap streak.   

We live in a beautiful state, and many of us live surrounded by nature. But studies seem to show that living in homes near nature isn’t enough. In the Journal of Environmental Psychology Lan Nguyen & Jared Walters make note in their meta-analysis that despite not understanding the mechanisms, “extended exposure to nature has the potential to restore and enhance attention and executive functioning in children and adolescents.” Further encouragement comes from Danielle Cohen in her article found on the Child Mind Institute: “most of the studies agree that kids who play outside are smarter, happier, more attentive, and less anxious than kids who spend more time indoors.” A lot of research has warned about the detrimental effects Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) has on health outcomes for children and adults. Thankfully, Positive Childhood Experiences (PCE) can counteract those negative effects. For instance, despite a 60% increase in probability for depression as an adult if a child experiences 4-8 ACEs, that likelihood plummets 72% when 6-7 PCEs are introduced into life (Bethell C et al, 2019). Time in nature promotes well-being beyond the more immediate positive effects we see in our children’s physical health, moods, and abilities. 

Immersion in nature is exceptional, but simple attention given in any amount of natural space is enough to receive benefits to our nervous systems. Some childhoods are challenging, and homes or neighborhoods are not safe – find the woods and discover how nature can be a place of safety and wonder. Resilient people have flexible nervous systems that can respond to stress but swiftly shift back down to neutral. Nature helps us slow down. So, climb along fallen trees, dig into the layers of the forest floor, gaze at clouds, wander slowly – as often as possible. Opportunities to attend summer camps are out there and New Hampshire boasts natural spaces like public forests and walking trails. Nothing needs to be complicated. Go.  

Siobhan's Forest Therapy: WoodsWalking Forest Therapy

Bethell , C., Gombojav, N., Linkenbach, J., & Sege, R. (2019). Positive Childhood Experiences and Adult Mental and Relational Health in a Statewide Sample. JAMA Pediatrics. https://positiveexperience.org/research/positive-childhood-experience-and-adult-mental-and-relational-health-in-a-statewide-sample/ 

Cohen, D. (n.d.). (rep.). Why Kids Need to Spend Time in Nature. Retrieved April 1, 2025, from https://childmind.org/article/why-kids-need-to-spend-time-in-nature/#full_article. 

Nguyen, L., Walters, J., (2024). Benefits of nature exposure on cognitive functioning in children and adolescents: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 96