PSYCHOLOGICAL RESILIENCY: Nature Contact in the Time of COVID

The economic collapse, the COVID-19 crisis, the social justice movement and the intense polarization of the American experiment have converged with the devastation of the sixth mass extinction to create a series of events that will have long-term societal impact. This workshop looks at the evidence for nature as a means to enhance psychological resiliency, as well as the barriers to this low-risk, low-cost mental health intervention.

Schedule: 

9-9:50 am: Panel Discussion

9:50-10:00: Break

10-10:28: Breakout/World Cafe Round 1

10:30-11:00: Breakout/World Cafe Round 2

11:00-11:05: Transition Time

11:05-11:55: Roundup / Next Steps (plenary)

11:55 am – 12 pm: Thank You / Adjourn

To begin the workshop, a panel discussion will explore the evidence related to nature contact and the ways it can help with psychological resiliency.

Moderator: Elle Maureen Newcome, medical student, University of Minnesota (2020 Emerging Leader)

Panelists:

• Minot Cleveland, MD, Medical Director of Employee Health, Legacy Health (2020 SHIFT Award winner)
• Everly Jazi, graduate student, The Ohio State University (2020 Emerging Leader)
• Peter James, Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

Following the panel discussion, participants and panelists will be placed in breakout rooms in smaller groups to continue discussing the topic using a World Cafe format.

Two 30-minute rounds of world cafe-style breakouts will be followed by a thirty-minute “roundup” that reports out on the findings of each breakout room.

The final thirty minutes of the workshop will synthesize the proceedings into next steps.

NOTE TO ALL PARTICIPANTS: Both the Panel Discussion and the Roundup / Next Steps will be recorded for later distribution. If you do not wish to be recorded, you are kindly asked not to participate in these elements of the workshop.