PaRx Connectors brings healthcare and nature professionals together to help Canadians get outdoors

An Ottawa healthcare provider and a Guelph horticultural therapist share a vision for helping more Canadians experience the health benefits of nature through PaRx Connectors.

When Dr. Owen Wiseman asked a young patient struggling with anxiety and depression where he felt most at ease, the answer was a little stream near his home.

Wiseman began incorporating visits to that stream into the young man's care. Over time, he saw improvements in the patient's mood, daily functioning, and engagement at school. Eventually, his medication was reduced as part of his broader treatment.

"Obviously, you can't attribute that entire trajectory to one intervention," says Wiseman. "But moments like that really stay with you, and they should make us ask why we so rarely inquire about place in medicine."

Dr. Wiseman, an Ottawa-based primary care provider, has been prescribing nature through PaRx, Canada's national nature prescription program, since its early days.

"I've had patients smile when I write nature prescriptions," he says. "They'll say to me, 'This is the first prescription I've ever been excited to fill.'"

Growing up, his family spent summers and holidays at his grandmother's cottage, which remained in the family for 64 years.

"Being at the lake was kind of the heart of the family. It's where we all gathered. When you went there, you knew you were going to see loved ones," he recalls.

Today, he draws on his clinical expertise and understanding of nature's benefits to develop personalized prescriptions, considering patients' health goals, mobility, access to green space, and comfort spending time outdoors.

But he recognizes that writing a prescription is only the beginning.

"I can tell someone why I might want them spending more time in nature, and I can help them identify where they might go," he explains. "But a Connector is helping with that next question, which is how do we make it feel doable but also sustainable for you?"

That's the idea behind PaRx Connectors, a program that brings healthcare professionals together with qualified nature professionals, including forest therapy guides and horticultural therapists, who can help patients incorporate nature into their lives.

There are fewer than 50 registered horticultural therapists in Canada, according to Guinevere Kern, who is among them.

Horticultural therapy uses plants and gardening activities as a therapeutic modality to support goal-oriented physical, mental, and emotional health. Kern has worked in mental health and addiction treatment facilities, long-term care, rehabilitation settings, schools, and community programs, supporting everyone from people recovering from strokes and traumatic brain injuries to people living with dementia, newcomers to Canada, paramedics and first responders, and residential school survivors.

Depending on someone's needs, horticultural therapy might involve activities designed to improve fine motor skills, manage stress, or as an intervention to loneliness. Sessions can take place in greenhouses, therapeutic gardens, parks, or even indoors when outdoor spaces aren't accessible.

While working on an organic farm in the United States, Kern noticed changes in how she felt when she spent time outdoors.

"There was just something about being outside, no matter what the weather was, no matter what the conditions were, no matter what crops we were working within, that I noticed these shifts happening within myself," she recalls. "I didn't necessarily have language for it. I didn't necessarily have a full understanding, but I knew there was this internal change happening based on the time that I was spending outside and the actual engagement with plants themselves."

When she returned to Canada and began considering a career change, a friend sent her an internship opportunity in horticultural therapy with an urban agriculture focus. The subject line of the email read: "This is everything that you are- go for it!”

Kern had never heard of the profession, but the opportunity resonated immediately. She withdrew her other job applications, moved to Guelph, Ontario, and accepted the internship.

"One of the things that I tend to notice is that horticultural therapy helps people slow down. Patients often comment on feeling a greater sense of peace than when they first arrived," she explains.

In group settings, she sees connection and belonging develop naturally, with participants offering one another compliments, cooperating, and sharing. Even familiar activities, like tending a garden, can take on new meaning when approached as opportunities to support health and well-being.

When Kern learned about PaRx Connectors, she immediately registered.

"We're missing a professional lens to be a link between what we know to be health benefits, the design and implementation of these benefits, and the research that's occurring," she explains.

"Even when nature exists nearby, people may not know where to go, and they're not going to feel safe going alone. They might not feel like they belong there," Wiseman explains.

That's where Connectors like Kern come in.

"I help animate people's prescription for nature through personalized, patient-centered treatment plans," she says.

Depending on their expertise and the patient's needs, Connectors can offer horticultural therapy, guided forest walks, and other nature-based experiences, helping people build the confidence and skills to continue connecting with nature independently.

“Ultimately, our goal as PaRx Connectors is to help patients build the skills to incorporate the tools and techniques learned through their unique, specialized framework on their own,” Kern says.

Help more Canadians experience the health benefits of nature. You can help grow PaRx by donating here.  Healthcare professionals can register as PaRx Prescribers, while qualified nature professionals can join PaRx Connectors and help people put their nature prescriptions into practice.