At a time when many young people feel disconnected from themselves and the world around them, ConnectByNature offers an approach to mental health grounded in nature. Based in Ontario’s Niagara Region, this outdoor therapy service supports children’s emotional well-being and personal growth through nature-assisted activities like forest walks, mindfulness practices, and interactions with wildlife.

ConnectByNature was founded by Nancy Rushford, a psychotherapist and occupational therapist, following a serendipitous encounter. Around 2018, while Nancy was considering her next career steps, a small boy who had run away from a group home unexpectedly showed up at her rural property, which is surrounded by nature and is home to several animals.

While waiting for staff to come pick him up, the boy spent time playing with the animals and expressed how much he enjoyed the natural surroundings. His connection to the environment reaffirmed Nancy’s belief in nature’s therapeutic power. “I thought, how often does a small child just arrive on your doorstep and point out the obvious?” Nancy recalls. Shortly afterward, ConnectByNature was born.

The organization has a small but dedicated team that includes Nancy and her physician husband, Paul Stacey, along with another psychotherapist, a cultural advisor, an educator, and an animal handler. Together, they support children, youth, and families of all backgrounds and identities—primarily those navigating autism, behavioral and emotional challenges, fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, trauma, or involvement in the foster care system.

Nancy observes that children “present so much differently outside than in classrooms under fluorescent lights or in clinical settings. It’s neat to be able to see that although they may struggle with inattention or have really big emotions that surface, there’s this curiosity and interest in the world all around them that supersedes all of that.”

Sessions primarily take place on a hobby farm and in a 10-acre forest, where children play, create stories through the land, and interact with horses, goats, chickens, cats, and wildlife. “The literature is robust and growing when it comes to the health benefits of nature,” Nancy notes, citing improvements in attention, cognition, and cardiovascular health. “But I get to see it every day in these small, wonderful ways.”

For Nancy, nature and animals are not just tools or a passive backdrop, but rather active partners in the therapeutic process: “There have been so many times I’ve had kids or teenagers who are socially isolated, don’t feel good about themselves, or have low self-confidence. And then the chickens come running to them, or the horses look at them. I’ve had more than one say, ‘Look, they love me!’”

“There’s very little more that I have to do,” she continues. “The power of that—you couldn’t do that in a clinical setting, to communicate in some way that the world around you actually loves you or thinks you’re worth something. That, to me, is beyond-words amazing.”

You couldn’t do that in a clinical setting, to communicate in some way that the world around you actually loves you or thinks you’re worth something. That, to me, is beyond-words amazing.

Parents praise the transformative impact ConnectByNature has had on their children’s lives. One parent, Nicola, highlights how outdoor therapy has had a grounding and peaceful effect on her son. “After every session we go to, when I pick him up he’s calmer, he looks happier, he’s relaxed,” she shares. “He’s learning different things when he’s outside: how to respect the animals, nature. He knows the boundaries.”

Since joining ConnectByNature, Nicola adds that her son has become more self-assured and outgoing, with noticeable improvements in his anxiety and classroom participation. “I think it’s brought out his full character and his confidence,” she reflects.

Amanda highlights how nature-based imagery and intention-setting have positively affected her eleven-year-old daughter. She notes that the program’s effects show up not only in school and sports, but also in strengthened communication at home. Amanda explains that ConnectByNature is “using all of this imagery to help kids have a better understanding of risk, worry, and safety in their lives, and it really has the impact of building confidence to navigate the world.” 

Anthony, whose fifth-grade daughter attends ConnectByNature, adds to this perspective by drawing attention to the value of going on nature walks, visiting animals, or even just splashing around in muddy puddles. He remarks, “You might think they’re just playing outside, but there’s a purpose to what they’re doing, what Nancy’s guiding them to do for an end result. And it works, it definitely works.”

ConnectByNature also maintains partnerships with community organizations, such as Niagara’s Aboriginal Health Centre, and includes a cultural advisor to help ensure respectful engagement with Indigenous ways of knowing. “To start to develop these relationships with Indigenous partners and communities is important,” Nancy underscores. “Especially with the connection to the land, its history, and traditional ecological knowledge.”

Beyond her clinical practice, Nancy is passionate about inspiring other health practitioners to integrate nature into healing. She says, “I’m excited about making these connections, surfacing stories from lived experience in the forest with animals, and growing a stronger force with nature and health so that we can really start to bring it into people’s psyches again, into their everyday experience, and into their ideas about their own well-being.”

Associated Case Study: ConnectByNature Therapy Services

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