Center For Nature Informed Therapy

Center For Nature Informed Therapy The Center for Nature Informed Therapy integrates mental health practices with healing found in the natural world.

From Payton, written in the final miles before Santiago.He calls this one An Untitled Meditation. It moves from a quiet ...
05/29/2026

From Payton, written in the final miles before Santiago.

He calls this one An Untitled Meditation. It moves from a quiet "thank you" offered to a stretch of forested path, to Thich Nhat Hanh's reading of the Diamond Sutra, to a Spanish proverb tacked on a moss-covered tree along the trail: All the things that hurt, also made you move forward.

A passage worth sitting with:

"The more time that I have dedicated to mindfulness and gratitude, the less of myself I have found. In fact, I believe that the moments in my life when I have come closest to enlightenment are those when I have lost completely any definition of what self is or means, or what separation exists between it and the universe."

Read the full reflection at natureinformedtherapy.org/post/trail-notes-05-losing-the-self-padron

This is what nature-informed practice looks like in the wild: paying attention, letting the landscape speak, walking at the pace of your own thinking.

When have you felt least like yourself, and most at peace?

From Day 2 in the Bavarian foothills.A circle of people. River behind us, no walls, no screens. Just a slow morning, an ...
05/27/2026

From Day 2 in the Bavarian foothills.

A circle of people. River behind us, no walls, no screens. Just a slow morning, an open sky, and the kind of quiet most of us forget exists.

We come here to remember something modern life doesn’t make room for: that healing happens in relationship with the more-than-human world.

Reciprocity, not extraction. Presence, not productivity.

Restoring balance through nature-inspired healing.

The Ground Beneath Our Work is a book about bringing nature into therapeutic practice. Therapeutic Pathways is what that...
05/27/2026

The Ground Beneath Our Work is a book about bringing nature into therapeutic practice. Therapeutic Pathways is what that looks like in action.

At Ladew Topiary Gardens, our pilot participants are walking a mapped garden loop, stopping at themed stations to practice exactly the kind of nature-informed engagement the book describes: sensory awareness, reflective journaling, mindful pause, and connection.

The book provides the framework. The garden provides the setting. Together, they’re showing us something: healing doesn’t need to happen in a room. It can happen on a path.

If you’ve read the book, Therapeutic Pathways is the next chapter, and we’re looking for parks and gardens ready to write it with us.

Available now: the book (https://www.natureinformedtherapy.org/shop) and the program (inquiries welcome).

05/27/2026

Mountains medicine

From our community member, walking the Camino de Santiago:A hostel night, a wall covered in notes left by previous walke...
05/26/2026

From our community member, walking the Camino de Santiago:

A hostel night, a wall covered in notes left by previous walkers, and the lasting power of writing things down. Paradise isn't a place, it's a state of mind.

"My call to action for those reading this isn't to start a journaling habit. I know how hard that can be, or how boring it can seem to non-writers. Instead, try taking one quick moment from your day, and make it momentous. Write it down as if it was a life-changing moment (it was), as if everyone wants to know about it."

The full piece includes two of Payton's own journal entries from Redondela: one from a stream rail covered in purple flowers, the other from an unplanned conversation with a Spanish family over churros.

https://www.natureinformedtherapy.org/post/trail-notes-04-written-word-redondela

At CNIT, we train clinicians to bring this kind of slow noticing into their work. Nature has always been a teacher.

What is one small moment from your day worth writing down?

A thought from Payton last week, in case you missed it.The full reflection, on farmers, fishermen, and the Atlanti...
05/21/2026


A thought from Payton last week, in case you missed it.

The full reflection, on farmers, fishermen, and the Atlantic, is on our blog.

natureinformedtherapy.org/post/trail-notes-02-joy-and-the-coast

One month ago today, The Ground Beneath Our Work went into the world on Earth Day.Since then, it has reached therapists,...
05/20/2026

One month ago today, The Ground Beneath Our Work went into the world on Earth Day.
Since then, it has reached therapists, teachers, nurses, chaplains, park rangers, and helpers I never
could have imagined.

It’s being read in graduate programs, carried into supervision sessions, and placed on office shelves next to well-loved copies of Braiding Sweetgrass and Last Child in the Woods.

But the best part hasn’t been the sales or the reviews. It’s been the messages.

"I took my first client outside today." "I finally understand why I need the river." "I read Chapter 9 and cried."

This book was never meant to sit still. It was meant to move, into your hands, into your practice, into the spaces where people come to be held.

If it’s helped you, pass it on. If you haven’t picked it up yet, this is your invitation.

The ground is right here.
Beneath all of us.

The mountains are calling, and we’re getting ready to welcome 10 adventurers for an unforgettable journey of connection,...
05/20/2026

The mountains are calling, and we’re getting ready to welcome 10 adventurers for an unforgettable journey of connection, reflection, and renewal. Through hiking alpine trails, mindful movement and yoga, forest therapy, biking, and nature-based practices, we’ll explore what it means to live with greater intention, resilience, and purpose.

From our community member, walking the Camino de Santiago:I have turned my journey inward up the Minho River.Many ...
05/19/2026


From our community member, walking the Camino de Santiago:

I have turned my journey inward up the Minho River.

Many changes came because of this. Average local age decreases. A new time zone I have found. Hills. Humidity. And the sun shining, finally, across my other cheek. For a moment on the coastal portion, I was worried that I might return to the US split in half by only one tanned side. Not the least of these changes in turning my journey inward has been in literally turning my journey inward.

Continue reading Payton's journey, and catch up if you've missed any of his updates, at natureinformedtherapy.org/blog

We believe time outdoors is foundational to mental health, not optional to it.

Where is your journey turning inward?

Why a topiary garden?When we approached about hosting Therapeutic Pathways, we weren’t looking for a pretty backdrop. W...
05/17/2026

Why a topiary garden?
When we approached about hosting Therapeutic Pathways, we weren’t looking for a pretty backdrop. We were looking for a partner who understood that a garden is more than a place to visit — it’s a place that can change you.
Ladew’s curated landscapes offer something rare: intentional beauty that invites pause. Every hedge, pathway, and planting was designed to guide the eye and quiet the mind. That’s exactly what therapeutic design does.
Our pilot is proving what we suspected: when you give people a structured reason to slow down in a beautiful space, something opens up. The journal entries are getting deeper. The conversations at check-ins are getting more honest. The garden is doing its work.
We’re documenting everything — because we believe this model can work in any park, garden, arboretum, or green space that’s ready to become a pathway to healing.
Interested in bringing Therapeutic Pathways to your site? Let’s talk. Link in bio.
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Address

1010 Dulaney Valley Road
Towson, MD
21204

Website

https://hopp.bio/natureinformedtherapy

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