Film shares stories of how nature can help recovery from substance use
Improved mental health and friendship are among other benefits.
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A new documentary film shares the success stories of people who have used nature in their recovery from substance use – among them an agoraphobic.
The short film, featuring people attending nature-based activities across different parts of Scotland, also details their struggles with poor mental health, and how these programmes helped them cope in different ways.
The film, created through a project led by the University of Stirling, shares stories not only of recovery, but also of friendship, as participants embraced nature as part of their daily routines.
Funded by the Society for the Study of Addiction, Green Threads: Weaving Stories of Nature and Recovery will be shown this week at the Adam Smith Theatre in Kirkcaldy. A screening also took place last week at the Centre for Contemporary Arts in Glasgow.
The success stories back up research from the University of Stirling which has evidenced why these types of programmes appear to work for poor mental health and substance dependence.
One of the organisations featured in the film is Venture Trust, which uses outdoor-based programmes to help people through trauma, poverty and mental health issues.
Shona credits Venture Trust with helping her recovery from 30 years of alcohol dependence, and from childhood-related trauma. Her story of how getting outside helped heal her is all the more remarkable because of her agoraphobia.
Shona said: “I spent three years not leaving the house. Some days it’s still hard, but I set myself a challenge that I have to be up, dressed and out of the house by 10 o’clock every day. In recovery they say to accept a higher power. Mine is Mother Nature because she’s available to me. I'm lucky that I have a beach at the bottom of my road and hills at the top.”
Shona now volunteers for Venture Trust, and it’s where she met her best friend, Jennifer, who is a year ahead of Shona in recovery. The pair use different tools to address their substance use and trauma. But one thing they agree on is getting outside – particularly for wild swimming and meditating.
Film: Green Threads: Weaving Stories of Nature and Recovery
Jennifer said: “I accessed Venture Trust’s outdoor therapy, which helped me with the trauma of losing my ex-partner in addiction. I also deal with it through methods like acting and volunteering.”
Dr Wendy Masterton, Senior Lecturer in Criminology and specialising in substance use at the University of Stirling, said: “Apart from the physical and social benefits of nature-based programmes, it is clear from our research that these activities bring feelings of purpose and a positive outlook for participants. It’s powerful to hear their stories on film, and we hope the documentary will be another stepping stone to establishing more nature-based initiatives and showing how effective they can be as an approach to substance use support.”
The film has been created as a resource to encourage more people onto nature-based programmes, and to encourage more healthcare professionals and strategic decision makers to buy into them.
Attending the film screenings will be programme participants, staff, their friends and families, as well as academics, alcohol and drug partnership representatives, and NHS and third sector practitioners. The documentary will then be shared widely with recovery networks, healthcare professionals and Scottish Government.
The screening events follow the launch last month of University of Stirling-developed manuals to help health and social care providers design and deliver nature-based programmes.
Green threads: weaving stories of nature and recovery can be seen here.
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