Nature Rx@UMD: Nature, Race and Relational Trauma: Presentation by Beth Collier

This talk explores the relational trauma in being disconnected from nature through the lens of Nature Allied Psychotherapy, a modality of ongoing client practice taking place in natural settings - working in allegiance with nature to explore our emotional world. Beth's book, Nature Allied Psychotherapy; Exploring Relationships with Self, Others and Nature is forthcoming with Routledge.

Nature provides the conditions for our optimum health, yet we have formed a dysfunctional relationship with the city, tolerating environmental stressors which harm human health, whilst many no longer see see time in nature as a meaningful part of everyday life.

People of colour and those on low incomes are more likely to live in urban areas with a deficiency of access to nature and a higher exposure to city stressors. Many people of colour have been disenfranchised from nature through human interference, experiences of racism have created barriers for some, to feeling safe in nature, cutting us off from habitats which are physiologically, emotionally, and spiritually supportive.

Beth will discuss the UK context, in which people of colour spend less time in natural settings than white communities. Whereas in countries of heritage we tend to be deeply connected to nature, a disconnect seems to occur in the west. Beth will share findings from her ethnographic research exploring people of colours' relationship with nature in the UK, and work being done by her organisation Wild in the City to address issues of racism trauma, loss and healing in accessing green spaces and the countryside.

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