Grassroots: Constructing Nature-Based Health Movements from the Ground Up

Abstract

Ecotherapy is a form of complementary and alternative medicine that seeks to address multiple dimensions of wellbeing via nature-based interventions. Despite a growing recognition that wellbeing is more than just physical health (Witeska-Mlynarczyk 2015), holistic health practices like ecotherapy remain widely under-researched and under-utilized. This project draws upon ethnographic research with two ecotherapy organizations– one in the United States (Bloom) and one in Japan (Shinanomachi Healing Forest)– to examine how these challenges manifest in practice. The purpose of my research is twofold: 1) to provide a framework of ecotherapy that moves beyond strictly scientific understandings, and 2) to outline potential paths forward for ecotherapy organizations that struggle to gain widespread acceptance and use. Because ecotherapy exists outside of mainstream medicine, I argue that ecotherapy organizations must strategically leverage relationships across multiple levels in order to succeed. These partnerships are rarely simple; they require constant negotiation, creative compromise, and a deep understanding of how to work within–and sometimes around– unwelcoming systems.