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“How do you support your individual children in building relationships as well as recognizing and processing their emotions?” ask University of Denver researchers Marisa Motiff and Kevin Morris, in an article included in the new Exchange Essentials “Learning in Nature”.

Motiff and Morris share stories gleaned from their research at Green Chimneys, a school that has empowered youth through nature-based education within clinical, residential, and recreational services since 1947. They frame questions like the one above from those stories and offer insights from their research.

“A range of emotional experiences were observed in youth, including both a sense of safety and, at times, a sense of fear. Therapeutic growth was facilitated by both experience types...Though initially reluctant or unable to form close bonds with other people, many children experienced the feeling of safety with the animals which seemed to ‘repair... their ability to have a relationship.’ Over time, several staff members observed children and youth developing an ability to look at their peers and their staff and say, ‘Maybe I can have a relationship with you, too.’”

“Therapeutic work with children’s fear responses to some nature-based encounters was also described by many staff members as beneficial. With recognition and respect for each child’s boundaries and comfort level as the priority, staff highlighted that with gradual exposure, many children developed greater comfort with what had previously frightened them…As children and youth developed the ability to overcome their own fears and support others through the same process, staff helped them translate that sense of courage into other areas.”

Motiff and Morris’ article is one of eleven nature-focused articles in the newest Exchange Essentials collection.

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