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Occupational therapy as an allied health avenue for clinical nature-based mental healthcare

Nature Mental Health volume 3, pages 1296–1297 (2025)Cite this article

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Stress, anxiety and depression are increasingly prevalent worldwide1. Some of those affected seek clinical healthcare. General practitioners can prescribe antidepressants, refer patients for psychological counselling, or recommend lifestyle changes, for example, in diet, exercise, sleep patterns, alcohol consumption, or exposure to nature. We argue that occupational therapy could provide an immediately implementable allied health avenue for best-practice nature-based clinical mental healthcare for patients diagnosed with stress, anxiety or depression.

There is now ample proof-of-concept evidence that nature improves multiple measures of mental health2,3, both for individuals who are psychologically healthy and for those with a mental health condition4. The effectiveness of nature exposure depends on detailed features of the nature setting5, such as biodiversity6; patient life history, personality and neurology7; and activity and experience, including frequency, duration and intensity, senses and emotions, social context, and the presence of skilled guides5,8.

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Acknowledgements

No funding was received for this Correspondence. No artificial intelligence was used.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment & Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Ralf C. Buckley

  2. Cornwall Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, Bodmin, UK

    Ruth Bishop

  3. NatureOT, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Bronwyn Paynter

  4. School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Meisha Liddon

  5. Centre for Work, Organisation and Wellbeing, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

    Paula Brough

Authors
  1. Ralf C. Buckley
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  2. Ruth Bishop
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  3. Bronwyn Paynter
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  4. Meisha Liddon
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  5. Paula Brough
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Contributions

All authors contributed to conceptualization. R.B. contributed professional data from the UK and B.P. contributed professional data from Australia. R.C.B. wrote draft versions. All authors endorse the published version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ralf C. Buckley.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Mental Health thanks the anonymous reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Buckley, R.C., Bishop, R., Paynter, B. et al. Occupational therapy as an allied health avenue for clinical nature-based mental healthcare. Nat. Mental Health 3, 1296–1297 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44220-025-00534-z

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