It's in the Trees : Read Geoffrey's interview on Nature Awareness & it's effects on people with addictions.
Drink & Drug News 23rd Febuary 2009 page 7
On the 9th March, 2009 Derek Wilson sent this letter in to DDNBark at the Moon
Upon opening my recent copy of Drink and Drugs News, I needed to do a double-take on your nature awareness article (DDN, 23 February, page 7) to check that 1 April hadn’t come round sooner than I thought. It appears that while Geoffrey recognises that there is no evidence for the programme’s effectiveness, it works on same principle as equine assisted therapy. While I have my own doubts over the effectiveness of EAP, using Geoffrey’s logic I’d suggest that hamster assisted therapy (HAT) would have the same impact as, like horses and trees, they are also part of nature. Would the NTA perhaps examine the opportunity to fund a study into cockroach assisted therapy (CAT)?
Geoffrey tells us that he doesn’t know how it works but it does. What does he mean by this? Does running blindfolded through a forest while someone beats a drum reduce the likelihood of re-offending? Does holding hands and behaving like a wolf reduce the trauma of childhood sexual abuse – although I must admit that I have little knowledge of the psychology of wolf behaviour. Perhaps Geoffrey has studied wolf behaviour and its similarities to human behaviour, and the lessons we can learn from wolves?
Geoffrey continues by informing us that the programme seems to work better with a younger age group. ‘Up to about 12’, he helpfully reports, continuing that after that it becomes a little bit more difficult. I wonder why? The programme also seems to have better outcomes with women ‘because they tend to be more organised’. This sweeping generalised statement, based on absolutely no evidence whatsoever, sums up the whole basis of the article. Even if we accept the fact that women are generally more organised – although I’m not really sure what this means – how does it make them better at finding trees while blindfolded or acting like a wolf?
The whole article is frankly insulting to those of us who have spent many years offering service users robust evidence based programmes that have demonstrable outcomes. The whole idea that the worldwide addiction field has missed a major treatment intervention is also offensive to those who have devoted significant portions of their lives studying and researching addiction.
I’m disappointed that DDN sees fit to publish an article more akin to alchemy than science. As a practitioner and commissioner with nearly 20 years in the field, I subscribe to DDN to hear about programmes based on research evidence and best practice. I’m sorry Geoffrey, I don’t believe in fairies or the power of trees to assist in recovery from drug and alcohol problems.
Derek Wilson
Molly Cochrane,wrote in respose to Derek Wilson letter in DDN.Give Peace a Chance
I can’t help thinking that Derek Wilson is being a little harsh on Geoffrey McMullan and his nature awareness therapy (DDN, 9 March, page 9). It’s fair enough if he thinks there’s nothing to nature awareness therapy – Geoffrey McMullan is open about the fact most people are cynical about it. But to call the article ‘frankly insulting to those of us who have spent many years offering service users robust evidence-based programmes’ seems somewhat over the top.
It was clear that Geoffrey McMullan was saying that nature awareness could be used as a useful add-on for some clients, to help them engage more effectively in treatment. At no point does he call it an alternative to mainstream treatment, nor is he asking for NTA money, as Derek Wilson appears to be implying.
He’s helped some clients and wanted to share his findings – where’s the harm in that? And, as he’s the only practitioner in the country carrying out these interventions with this client group, I don’t think he really poses too much of a threat. I’d say the robust evidence based programmes were safe from being discarded in favour of people pretending to be wolves for quite a while yet.
Molly Cochrane
Nature Awareness has since moved on and has now become Natural Awareness which has been developed into a programme that is proving to be of great benefit to those who engage in it. Blow is some feedback from clients of and the organisation that have used Natural Awareness.
'The Art & Science of Natural Awareness'
Regarding the lack of empirical evidence into alternative and spiritual aspects of recovery in wilderness-therapy, perhaps with future research Natural-Awareness can in a small way close the gap on this so called grey-literature.Miller (1998) states that in terms of spirituality to “…Simply ignore a… potential source of healing violates both scientific curiosity and professional responsibility”, he continues by challenging the academic and spiritual community by stating, “…It is time to question and reverse the assumption that spiritual variables are taboo for scientists and therapists, or that scientific methods cannot possibly shed light on spirituality” (p. 987).
Miller, W. R. (1998). Researching the spiritual dimensions of alcohol and other drug problems. Addiction, 93, (7), 979-990.
To this end my friend Barry a qualified psychotherapist and I have put together a programme for people with addiction's and behavioral problems the programme is called.
'The Art & Science of Natural Awareness'
Our first workshop was a great success and will be repeated this March with the same Rehab. Each workshop will build on the previous one and the people who attended the first one will return and help to support the next group through. We will also be teaching them some wilderness-living-skills in preparation for going into the wilderness. Below are just some of the quotes from that weekend.
Quote from TM:
“We started with Chi Gong and emotions began to flow. They were then settled by meditation before beginning the exercise to “find our tree”. Connecting with the woodland was by far my favourite task. The sense of achievement in being able to feel my way around this environment blindfolded and return to a safe place by the tree I had first been shown was exhilarating. After every task we had had opportunities to sit around and check in which gave everyone the chance to acknowledge their feelings while so far out of their comfort zone.
My weekend was full of kindness and support, and gave me a chance to challenge my ability to stay present, open and hopeful in a challenging environment. There were people there with different addictions but all of us had unreasonable fear in common. This weekend put us in situations such as walking blindfolded in the woods at night, where we could practice sitting with those fears knowing that help was only a whisper away. I thoroughly enjoyed the weekend, made some new friends and came home with a feeling of real accomplishment.”
Qoute from K. L:
“To sum up my experience - it was magical and I took so much away with me I don't even know where to start. I have to touch and hug trees everywhere I go, even South African trees haha. I took away a realisation of my lack of trust in myself and others, lots of things clicked into place and still are months afterwards ...it was wonderful to meet them (Barry & Geoffrey) and spend time with them both.
I will never forget my weekend, brings tears to my eyes, I would love to attend another one even if I nearly freeze to death”.
Feedback from Mandy Saligari, Director of Charter Day Care:
“We were absolutely thrilled with the work that our clients had achieved over the weekend with Pathfinder-UK, and have now incorporated a natural awareness weekend experience into our treatment programme on a regular basis.
The work that Geoffrey and Barry are able to achieve over such a short space of time is incredible: our clients returned emotionally and spiritually recharged, with a greater connection to their higher power, more fully alive to their own potential, better able to trust themselves.
Best of all, every one without exception had made a significant breakthrough in terms of their specific issues in recovery which we were able to build on in our groups with great results.
The work that Geoffrey and Barry are able to achieve over such a short space of time is incredible: our clients returned emotionally and spiritually recharged, with a greater connection to their higher power, more fully alive to their own potential, better able to trust themselves.
Best of all, every one without exception had made a significant breakthrough in terms of their specific issues in recovery which we were able to build on in our groups with great results.
The objective of The Art and Science of Natural Awareness...
Is to get the participants to connect with their heart and to transfer the lessons learnt from nature (be it connecting with a tree, an animal, plant or another human being) into an opportunity to change old behaviour thus creating the potential for new healthy behaviour to manifest, by becoming more self-aware. Within an established therapeutic-programme (which uses Chi Kung Natural Awareness nature-based games, storytelling and music) individuals can reflect upon their experiences through listening, discussing and processing with their peers/counsellors who have shared a similar experience, by abstracting practical insights about their behaviour and that of others.
The Art and Science of Natural Awareness could be seen as a “Halfway House” (Greenway, 1995, p. 133), who introduced this concept along with alternative methods like yoga and meditation into his wilderness-programme, the outcome of which was that before and after a wilderness experience he found that “…dysfunctions almost completely ceased” (p. 133). Because Natural Awareness comfortably functions between a residential and wilderness setting, (reducing our physical impact on the wilderness), nature becomes more accessible as part of an individual’s healing process.
Lau & McMain (2005) state that “… recent innovations in psychological treatments have integrated mindfulness meditation techniques with traditional cognitive and behavioural therapies, challenging traditional cognitive and behavioural therapists to integrate acceptance - and change-based strategies” (p. 863), with the emergence of mindfulness (the so called Third Wave) models like CBT are advancing, creating the potential for greater integration of alternative-therapies.
The Art and Science of Natural Awareness promotes behavioural, cognitive and affective change demonstrating an integrated approach which synergistically works with other therapies, such as Cognitive Behavioural Techniques (CBT), Transactional Analysis (TA), Gestalt (GE), 12-Steps (STEPS) which is used to deliver an end result GREATER than the use of a single therapy used in isolation, as an intervention Natural Awareness can and does compliment main stream models.
