Health Forest is a method that increases wellbeing. It has been developed for about ten years. Health Forest also means a place and an attitude. There are many paths that lead to a Health Forest.
Health Forest as a method was created through cooperation
The development of the Health Forest method has involved many different parties. The model was created in 2014–2016 in a project funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry. The Health Forest in Helsinki project (Sitra 2013) has contributed to the establishment of the method. In the project, a new kind of nature trail model even on the global scale, a health nature trail, was developed.
Parties involved in the development work:
- Anders Mickos, MD, Director of Medical Services
- Anna Peitola, MD Chief Physician, Outpatient Care
- Malin Heikkinen, Senior Healthcare Nurse
- Professor Liisa Tyrväinen
- Research Professor Timo Partonen
- Adela Pajunen, Biologist (PhD)
- Marko Leppänen, Geographer (MSc)
In 2015–2020, several healthcare and nature professionals also took part in the development work.
Measured and studied impacts of Health Forest
Right from the start, we have asked the participants to the series of walks to provide feedback and assessments of the impacts that the activities had on their own rehabilitation. The feedback and experiences have been quite astonishingly positive. This gave us a reason to study the matter in further detail.
Published in 2023, the internationally peer-reviewed study (Frontiers.org) provided clear evidence of the impacts of the method. This gave us an incentive and courage to expand Health Forest further.
Further training on the Health Forest method has been carried out since 2019. Guide and other training has been organised, for example, for the Central Finland Health Care District, the Porvoo Health and Social Services, and projects operating in connection with the Kainuu Health and Social Services.
Health Forest is a diverse place in its natural state
Health Forest as a concrete place means a nature area with more than an average amount of features that increase wellbeing. The area is especially dedicated to experiencing wellbeing, with a specifically designed accessible route and possibly also structures that support revitalization.
Official health forests have been established, for example, in Hyvinkää, Lahti, Kajaani and Kouvola. The health forests of the three latter ones are connected to the adjacent hospital.
Ultimately, any natural location or area that is known as a source of wellbeing can be regarded as a health forest. The knowledge helps to observe the features that promote wellbeing at the site and to find support in them.
Values and attitude of Health Forest
The values governing the Health Forest activities are respect for life, equality, ecology, trust, and research data.
The key dimension of the Health Forest activities stems from within each of us. Health Forest as an attitude means a conscious strive to surrender yourself to nature’s healing and look after nature in return.
We encourage the establishment of health nature trails
A health nature trail is similar to a traditional nature trail, but it has a conscious aim to improve wellbeing. On a health nature trail, you learn new and fascinating facts about nature and wellbeing, and you will relax and be refreshed and have insights.
When designing a health nature trail, various revitalising location features of nature are taken into account. On a trail, you can try simple exercises that increase your nature connectedness.
There are health nature trails for example, in Vartiosaari (sitra.fi) and Pornaistenniemi (vihreatsylit.fi) in Helsinki and in Liessaari in Lohja (lohja.fi). Health nature trails are excellent for use as part of the municipal provision of recreational areas, and also at, e.g., training centres and holiday farms, or even at your summer cottage.
