Doctors in Canada to prescribe national park passes to boost mental health

A new initiative will give doctors in Canada the opportunity to prescribe free year-long passes to the country’s national parks in a bid to boost people’s mental and physical wellness.

The pilot programme will allow doctors to prescribe adults time outdoors in nature, prioritising those who live close to the country’s national parks and marine conservation areas.

The annual passes usually retail for CAD $72.25 (£44) and provide unlimited access to more than 30 parks and national historic sites in the country.

The initiative is the result of a new agreement between Park Prescriptions (PaRx), an existing nature prescription programme in Canada, and Parks Canada, a government agency which manages the country’s parks and marine conservation areas.

“Medical research now clearly shows the positive health benefits of connecting with nature,” Steven Guilbeault, minister of environment and climate change said.

“This exciting collaboration with PaRx is a breakthrough for how we treat mental and physical health challenges, and couldn’t come at a better time as we continue to grapple with the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on our daily lives.

“I am confident this program will quickly show its enormous value to the wellbeing of patients as it continues to expand throughout the country.”

The benefits of spending time outdoors for mental health has been well studied during the pandemic. In October 2021, a study by the University of York in the UK found that spending time outdoors led to improved mood, more positive emotions and less anxiety.

Additionally, research published in the Scientific Reports journal in December 2021 found that contact with nature can also reduce feelings of loneliness. Those who spent time outside reported a decrease in loneliness by 28 per cent, while social inclusivity cut loneliness by 21 per cent.

Dr Melissa Lem, a family physician and director of PaRx said that aside from health benefits the programme aims to provide, it could also encourage more environmentally-friendly behaviours.

“Research shows that children and adults who are more connected to nature are not only more likely to work to conserve it, but also engage in other pro-environmental behaviours,” Lem said.

“I like to think that every time one of my colleagues writes a nature prescription, we’re making the planet healthier too.”

Similar programmes are already being trialled with success in parts of the UK.

In December 2020, the government announced that seven different sites across England would receive funding to test how prescribing time in nature could improve mental health. The sites were in Hull, Yorkshire, Nottingham, Manchester, Surrey, Bristol and Derbyshire.

Separately, in April last year the Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust became the first to prescribe fishing to help those suffering from anxiety and depression.

The trust has teamed up with Tackling Minds, a fishing social group started at the beginning of the pandemic which aims to improve people’s wellbeing through angling events.

The programme hopes to increase people’s activity levels, connect people with others and aid stress relief by asking people to fish outdoors in blue-green spaces.

Elsewhere in the UK, a trial of five GP practices in Edinburgh who prescribed spending time in nature to improve people’s wellbeing from November 2020 to April 2021, concluded that 87 per cent of patients would continue to use nature to help their health. Additionally, 91 per cent of physicians said they would continue to prescribe time in nature.

The trial was part of a collaboration between the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, and the NHS Lothians Health Foundation.

One doctor, Madeleine Housden from East Craigs Medical Centre said prescribing nature to patients has been “hugely rewarding”.

“Patients can start the prescription straightaway; nature is on our doorstep and the whole family can get involved and see the benefits! It’s certainly a tool I’ll be using in my future practice,” Housden said.

Over the course of the five months, 350 patients were prescribed nature as part of treatment for 32 different health concerns.

Most of the prescriptions were given to support mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression.

Around a fifth (17 per cent) were prescribed time in nature to treat physical health, mostly obesity and diabetes.

Ian Mackenzie, green health programme manager for Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation commented: “In urban areas such as Edinburgh, we often overlook the nature on our doorsteps and this has been a great way for people to explore how nature can make us both healthier and happier.”