November 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 46

M E N TA L H E A LT H

PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF THE INTERNATIONAL SURF THERAPY ORGANIZATION

An instructor helps a child learn to surf
as part of a therapeutic surfing course
for children with special needs and
disabilities.

Parks & Recreation

Surf (http://ampsurf.org/), which
provides surf clinics to disabled
adults and children, but has a particular focus on disabled veterans.

Park RX

it, it is not going to happen. But it
is just the opposite. You talk about
it, and it won't happen. "

National Alliance on Mental Illness
(NAMI), to provide further trainings
on a variety of mental health topics.

Chicago, Illinois

Programs and Initiatives

The Chicago Park District has taken a dually focused approach to
addressing and supporting mental
health and personal wellness by
engaging in efforts, both internally and externally. The agency has
instated the unique role of a crisis
support manager. This staff member
is a licensed clinical social worker
(LCSW) who responds to crises that
occur in the parks and other serious
situations that affect staff by providing clinical support, debriefing and
different mental health trainings.
The Chicago Park District is also
actively partnering with the city of
Chicago in the initiative to train all
employees on the concept of trauma and how it impacts themselves,
their co-workers and park patrons.
In addition, the Chicago Park District offers different mental health
and wellness programs, including
trauma-informed yoga classes, and
partners with agencies such as the

While park and recreation professionals are not typically experts in
mental health, agencies can play
an important role in helping those
with mental health challenges by
working with experts to provide
programs and services for individuals in need. Following are a few examples of programs and initiatives
that are already underway:

Parks across the country can also
participate in Park Rx (www.parkrx.
org), which facilitates " prescription "
programs that often include a collaboration between park and public
land agencies, healthcare providers
and community partners. With the
overall goal of improving health and
wellbeing, there are affiliated initiatives in almost every state. Nationwide and internationally, Walk with
a Doc (https://walkwithadoc.org/)
spearheads free, doctor-led walking
groups where participants can engage
in conversations around health and
wellness in a relaxed, fun setting. This
program, which is notably active in
Boulder, Colorado, can be particularly useful in giving people the chance
to connect and seek help without the
fear of being stigmatized, which studies have shown to still be widespread
(https://tinyurl.com/yygy3lrw),
despite growing public awareness of
mental health issues.

Surf Therapy

Forest Bathing

In August 2019, the New York Times
(https://tinyurl.com/y2ssbp6l) featured A Walk on Water (awalkon
water.org), a nonprofit organization
offering therapeutic surfing courses
for children with special needs and
disabilities. These programs have
mainly taken place in Southern California, but are gaining momentum
and have now reached as far as Virginia Beach. The International Surf
Therapy Organization (https://intl
surftherapy.org) also features Amp-

Another walking-based initiative
agencies have begun to explore is forest bathing. Forest bathing, known
as shinrin-yoku, or " taking in the
forest, " in Japanese, is a guided walk
through nature where participants are
encouraged to pay attention to sound,
touch, smell - anything that can trigger the senses. The ultimate goal is to
ease stress and experience mindfulness, which is a common treatment
(https://tinyurl.com/y2pnkg78) for
anxiety and other mental health dis-

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November 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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