This is a letter in response to another letter which was responding to my article in Drink and Drug News magazine."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
23 March 2009 | drinkanddrugsnews www.drinkanddrugsnews.com | 7
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