INTRODUCTION
Nature-based healing offers a powerful path for those navigating complex emotions like grief, depression, and anger, that can follow abortion experiences. This Men’s Healing Matters webinar delves into the transformative impact of connecting with nature to foster emotional well-being and healing.
Host Nyles Pinckney, Men's Healing Coordinator with Support After Abortion, opened the webinar by sharing research that shows the emotional benefits of spending time in nature. The European Union conducted and funded an 18-country study on the impact of nature on emotions. Mathew White, the Lead Author of the study said, “The most consistent finding internationally is that spending recreational time in safe, natural spaces helps to reduce negative emotions and induce positive emotions.”
And Melissa Piasecki, a Forensic Psychiatrist, who was involved in the European Union study, explained the science behind how nature benefits emotions and well-being by increasing serotonin that improves mood and reducing cortisol, which lowers stress levels. She said that depression, anxiety, anger, confusion, and fatigue are all psychological states that benefit from being in green and blue spaces.
Articles in Frontiers Psychology and the Environmental Health and Preventative Medicine also show the mind-body connection of spending time in natural environments. The benefits include regaining a sense of balance and calm, reducing feelings of isolation, regulating emotions, reducing stress, improving the ability to focus on the present, reducing being overwhelmed by grief, and enhancing mood and feelings of well-being.
Spending time in nature can be an especially useful tool, offering a space for reflection and emotional release.
A CONVERSATION ON NATURE'S HEALING IMPACT
Nyles was joined by David Young, who shared personal insights drawn from his own healing journey, as well as his involvement in men’s groups and outdoor activities. David, an outdoor enthusiast and Celebrate Recovery group leader, highlighted the importance of reconnecting with nature, both individually and in a group setting, to reflect, release emotions, and gain new perspectives.
Nature-Based Healing: A Personal Path to Reflection
David, who grew up in “the middle of nowhere Northwest Pennsylvania,” said he was “pretty much born into nature-based healing without even knowing it.” He told how as a kid he would “come home from school and just get on the four wheeler and go ride through the woods. That was just me getting away from everything and thinking about what happened throughout that day, and just giving myself time to reflect on how I’m doing, what I’m feeling.” He said it wasn’t until he was an adult and in Celebrate Recovery that he realized what he was doing as a kid – “being out and alone by myself thinking – was my nature-based healing.”
David described nature-based healing as two-fold—offering both solitary reflection and the opportunity to share with trusted peers in a natural setting. Spending time alone in nature, he explained, allows men to unplug from daily distractions, like phones and social media, and focus inward on their thoughts and feelings. This solo time provides a safe space to process emotions without external interference, offering clarity and a chance for self-reflection.
He emphasized the importance of disconnecting from technology, saying, “Cut off your phone, just get away from everyone, and have time to reflect on yourself without daily interruptions.” This time alone allows men to process what they’re going through without pressure.
Nyles also shared his own experiences of nature-based healing long before he knew the term. For example, he found emotional healing through sitting by a river or lake and taking time to process his feelings without distractions. He noted that when he and his friends go “fishing and things like that, we never look at that as nature-based healing.” But, he continued, “It’s a chance for us to heal and get to know each other, and open up that safe space. I really appreciate that.”
The Role of Group Healing
While solo reflection is valuable, David stressed that group experiences in nature can also be transformative. Sharing time outdoors with other men, especially those who understand or are on their own healing journeys, fosters a sense of camaraderie and trust that can be hard to achieve in day-to-day life. David shared how participating in men’s camping and rafting trips through his men’s groups helped him open up in ways he hadn’t before.
“The first night, I sat and listened and basically kept quiet, [while others talked and opened up],” David recalled about sitting around the campfire on his first camping trip with the group. He “joined the conversation a little bit” the second night. “But by the third night, after spending the days with the guys and being away from everything, I really opened up. It took a lot of weight off my shoulders just getting my story out and sharing with other people where I'm at in life and the things I've dealt with.” David said he had felt alone and like “no one else had dealt with what I had to deal with.” He credited being “out in nature and cut away from everything” as key to bringing “that healing, that relief of that weight being lifted.”
For many men, these outdoor group settings provide a unique space where emotional vulnerability is more accepted, especially when it comes to sharing stories of personal struggles. Sitting around a campfire in a relaxed environment, David explained, free from distractions, can bring deeper conversations that unfold organically, often leading to moments of breakthrough and relief. David also shared how fishing and tubing during the day allowed for casual, one-on-one conversations where one guy could say to another, Hey, what you said last night really resonated with something I'm going through.
Nature as a Tool for Emotional Release
Nyles highlighted how nature can act as a powerful conduit for emotional release. Men often grapple with expressing their feelings openly, particularly when it comes to grief or shame, which can result from personal struggles, including abortion experiences. Nature offers a non-judgmental space where these emotions can surface more freely.
Nyles asked David how nature-based healing could be used to support men emotionally after abortion. David said nature and healing “all ties together” regardless of “whether you’re dealing with emotions coming from abortion” or something else. “I find it hard to narrow down, This is only for abortion support. I think [nature-based healing] is just support in general.”
“Being out and seeing the ocean, the mountains, being in a forest, and just taking that in. That serenity really allows you to contemplate where you're at, where you've been, what you've been through,” David said. “So, I think it's hard to really narrow it down to one thing. I think nature-based healing works for everything.”
Practical Tips for Incorporating Nature into Healing
To help men and abortion healing providers put these concepts into action, Nyles and David shared practical tips for incorporating nature-based healing:
- Unplug: Both Nyles and David emphasized the importance of disconnecting from technology. Leave your phone behind or at least silence it to minimize distractions. The goal is to be fully present with yourself and your surroundings.
- Be intentional: Rather than leave individuals to explore nature without a healing focus – "I wouldn’t send someone out into the woods and just be like, Go fix yourself” – David said, “Give them a game plan. Make it like a treasure hunt. For example, tell them to find five different types of leaves, and as they find each leaf, think of it as representing an emotion. How would they deal with the emotion this leaf represents?" He continued, “It's an activity versus just going off blindly into the woods. Kind of give them a guidebook” to nature-based healing.
- Bring a notebook and pen: Writing thoughts and feelings while in nature helps to process your emotions. And it offers the opportunity later on to reflect on your progress in personal growth and healing. “A lot of times we’ll process stuff and forget about it,” David said, “but when it’s written down, you can go back and see where you were and how you came through it."
- Go Solo: Allow space and quiet to process emotions in solitude. Both Nyles and David discussed the importance of taking time to reflect in order to work toward releasing emotions. “To be able to go out and just be on your own,” David said, “is definitely a positive. Just get away from everyone and have time to reflect on yourself, be alone with yourself, and have time to process what you’re going through.”
- Seek Group Experiences: David encouraged men to find groups or friends with whom they can share outdoor activities. Group trips can deepen the experience, allowing for both fun and meaningful conversations.
- Be creative when you aren’t able to be outdoors in nature: Nyles described the difficulty he found moving from South Carolina to Minnesota in January. “If you know Minnesota,” he said, “that’s snow storms. I’m used to being out in nature in the woods.” Yet that wasn’t accessible during weeks-long “negative 20 degree weather.” He said he would use waterfowl and other sounds on YouTube to simulate a nature experience. David agreed and suggested using YouTube for “videos with just storms or rain or a creek.” David said, “If you live in a place where you cannot get to nature, you can't get to the ocean, you can't get to a lake, find something online that you can play and just sit there, listen, watch, and kind of contemplate the thoughts, the feelings, the emotions that that's bringing out in you.”
Final Takeaways on Nature-Based Healing
Before opening the floor for questions, Nyles asked David for one key takeaway that providers could use when encouraging nature-based healing for men. David’s response was clear: Nature-based healing doesn’t usually cost anything, and more importantly, being in nature allows men to create their own space of understanding. “Again, this is all personal to me,” David said, “but it really helps get rid of the cloudiness in the mind, and you can really focus a lot better.”
Nyles pointed out a common concern: "If someone is already feeling alone, why would they want to be even more alone in nature?"
David’s response was both practical and reflective: "Take that thought into nature with you. Ask yourself why you feel alone. Being alone in nature doesn’t mean you’re isolated. It’s a time to open up your mind to thoughts you wouldn’t have time for in your everyday life. It gives you space to ask, 'Who can I open up to about this?'"
Nyles added that, during his own abortion experience, he wished he had asked himself those same questions—"Who can I talk to? Who can I lean on?"
The conversation then moved to the power of sharing stories. When one attendee asked if sharing his story with men who understood helped David heal, he replied: "Absolutely. When you find someone who connects with what you’re going through, it’s like a whole new door opens up.” You realize you’re not alone.
Another question from the audience was whether weather and seasons influence the healing experience. David and Nyles both agreed that it does. David joked, "It’s probably not very calming to go out in 18-degree weather and try to concentrate on something other than staying warm." He shared that he particularly enjoys spring and fall for nature-based healing. "You get to see the beauty of things, and it’s the prime time to be out there."
The conversation also touched on how women could invite men into nature-based healing without making it awkward. David suggested having a trusted male friend invite the man instead: "Men will share things differently with other men than they will with women. Find someone he trusts to join him."
Nyles added his thoughts, agreeing that men connect differently with each other. "For a lot of us, vulnerability is scary.” Sometimes, having a trusted man to talk to can make that a little easier.
Both David and Nyles agreed that trust is essential in opening up. "You can’t force it," David said. "Sometimes it’s better to start with a solo trip to the woods or beach versus trying to force them to share with another person."
Nyles and David closed out the discussion by highlighting the unexpected benefits of nature-based healing. "You’re getting exercise without even realizing it, and you’re also expanding your knowledge of nature while healing," David said.
Nyles encouraged people to get out and explore nature-based healing for themselves. He shared that since talking with David a few weeks ago, “You motivated me to go camping and set up a campfire and do a little healing myself in that way.” Nyles recently joked with friends, “I’m having a hard day, I think I’m gonna go camping.” When they were surprised and said, “But it’s Wednesday,” he took the opportunity to tell them about nature-based healing. “I explained our conversation and suggested even sitting on the park bench or eating a meal outside, putting your phone down and just taking in the nature, the sounds and the feelings, it gives you a chance to decompress.”
5-IN-5 NATURE HEALING CHALLENGE
At the end of the webinar, Nyles introduced Support After Abortion’s 5-in-5 Nature Healing Challenge, designed to put the lessons into practice.
"Over the next five weeks, we challenge you and your clients to get outdoors and do five nature-based healing activities. This could be anything from hiking, kayaking, or even watching a squirrel—whatever helps you heal."
Nyles presented the bingo-like chart of five rows of five activities, saying “pick any five of them that feels comfortable to you.” He left the door open to do more, saying, “If you want to push it and do more, you can do more activities, or fill up the whole board if you'd like to.” But the challenge is to do five activities in five weeks.
Each activity comes with a reflection prompt to connect deeper with emotions. For example, when addressing anger, one prompt suggests throwing stones into a river, lake or pond. "With each stone, say aloud or think about something related to your abortion experience(s) that makes you angry. As the stone leaves your hand, visualize that specific anger being released into the water." And then it gives you a chance to reflect, What part of this anger, can I let go of today? What actions are within my control that can help me? This example is just one of the 25 activities and reflections offered in the challenge.
Participants are encouraged to share stories and pictures about their nature experiences and how it impacted their abortion healing journeys on the Support After Abortion website.
Access the activities and submission form here: 5 in 5 Nature Healing Challenge.
The challenge runs OCT 9 through NOV 13, the date of the next Men’s Healing Matters webinar. “We want to give everybody the opportunity to complete the challenge before our next Men's Healing Matters.”
The challenge is open to both men and women.
CONCLUSION
Nature-based healing offers men an accessible and effective path to process emotions after abortion experience(s). Whether it’s finding solace by a lake, writing down feelings, or throwing stones into a river, nature provides a unique and restorative setting. By allowing men to create their own space for reflection, healing becomes personal and transformative. And with initiatives like the 5-in-5 Nature Healing Challenge, it’s easier than ever to begin exploring the benefits of the natural world in the healing process.
NEXT STEPS
Click here to access the 5 in 5 Nature Healing Challenge chart, activities, and story & photo submission form.
Click here to watch the video of this webinar.
Click here to register for the next Men’s Healing Matters webinar.
Click here to register for the next Abortion Healing Provider webinar.
Click here to access Support After Abortion’s Resource Library.
Click here to explore Support After Abortion’s services, resources, and training for Abortion Healing Providers.
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