Laura Williams

Yesterday, during my Forest Therapy Practitioner training, we were asked a question that I'm still reflecting on: What is your relationship with nature? Laura in the garden, aged 3 At first, I thought it was an easy question to answer. I spend time outdoors most days. I walk the dog. I enjoy being in the countryside. I notice the difference in myself when I've spent time outside. But the more I sat with the question, the more I realised that asking about a relationship is very different from...

Mushrooms on a forest floor If you'd asked me a few years ago whether I'd be training as a Forest Therapy Practitioner, I'm not sure I'd have believed you. Not because I didn't love being outdoors - I always have - but because my professional world has been built on evidence-based coaching, psychology and behaviour change. I like understanding why something works. I want to know the research before I recommend a practice to someone else. Which is exactly why I'm so excited about beginning my...

I've spent much of my career working in health and wellbeing, including within the NHS. Like many people working in this field, I've seen incredible advances in healthcare, psychology and behaviour change science. We know more than ever about nutrition, exercise, sleep, stress and disease prevention. And yet, many of us still feel exhausted, disconnected and overwhelmed. This has led me to a question I've been sitting with recently: How do we live as healthy humans in a modern world that...