We’re on a mission to connect people with nature to support their health and wellbeing and to nurture custodians of nature. Natalie Ganpatsingh, Director of Nature Nurture is also an artist. When approached by Dr. Alan Kellas, Nature Lead at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, if she could convey the importance of nature connection in the sphere of mental health, she jumped at the chance.
The complex brief, which both acknowledged the eco-distress experienced by so many children and young people, whilst exploring the plethora of nature connection opportunities open to psychiatrists, social prescribers and those they support. They discussed the link between the home, the school, the community and the ever-growing challenges in the wider word. She spoke to her own teenagers, about the pressures they face and the most absorbing social media channels in their lives.
With so much to incorporate, she needed a visual mechanism to bind everything together and what better than the Golden Ratio? Conceived by the Ancient Greeks, these divine proportions can be found in plants and shells . In fact through the ages, the golden ratio has been used in architecture, music and art as well as modern-day brand and digital design. The fundamental premise that deep down, we humans feel good when we experience the patterns of nature. And it seems that current research, such as that of Dr. Agnes E. Van den Berg, reinforces this ancient notion.
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Dr. Alan Kellas said: “Working as a community psychiatrist to help children and young people can seem a long way away from discussions about global problems like the Climate crisis, or sustainable and zero carbon targets. But “our house is on fire”: so realising that “Nature Matters” both globally and as a practical way of talking with young people and their families, I think psychiatrists can make a difference by noticing nature in clinic or even if talking remotely; listening to the unique nature stories that matter for each child and family; and learning about local nature based resources: gardens, animals and birds, trees and waterways, parks, woodlands, as well as wilder places and the sea; and advocating too for healthy clean air and water and nature rich environments: a fairer world in the future where Nature Matters. I knew Natalie shared these concerns with Nature Nurture and her beautiful art captures these complex issues, illustrating all this “better than 1000 words”. It reminds me how powerful human creativity and imagination can be for children of all ages!”