Using nature for health, and health for nature

Through Nature on Prescription, Nature For Health promotes the integration of nature into the daily practice of GPs and physiotherapists. We encourage primary care professionals to actively refer patients to nature and green spaces – both in their immediate living environment and in natural areas and national parks.

Our aim is to bring as many people as possible into meaningful and sustained contact with nature. This is not only about health gains for people, but also about giving something back to nature itself. Human health and natural vitality strengthen one another.

Nature on Prescription aligns with the growing movement towards prevention and positive health within the healthcare system. By connecting nature in an accessible way to primary care, this approach contributes to resilience, recovery and the prevention of more intensive forms of care.

We work in close collaboration with IVN Natuureducatie, Alles is Gezondheid, and partners from the healthcare and primary care sector, including the Association of Lifestyle Medicine Physicians (Vereniging Arts en Leefstijl) and the Green Care Alliance (Groene Zorgalliantie). Through this commitment, Nature For Health contributes to the Nature on Prescription action line of the Collectief Natuurinclusief and its associated national Impulse Programme.

Local initiatives, such as NFH’s Nature on Prescription Reeshof (Tilburg), form an important foundation for this Impulse Programme. Experiences from these and other practices contribute to the further development, structural embedding and national scaling of the approach.

Through the Nature For Health LinkedIn account, we also share international examples of Nature on Prescription in practice. 

In early 2021, NFH, in collaboration with IVN, launched the national Nature on Prescription website. In the coming years, this platform will be further updated and expanded as a knowledge and inspiration hub for healthcare professionals, policymakers and initiators.

From waiting time to working time, with nature as a healing and supportive environment

Waiting lists in mental health care (GGZ) have continued to rise in recent years. In 2024, more than 100,000 people were on a waiting list. General practitioners and practice mental health nurses (POH-ggz) report that referral to specialist care is often barely possible. As a result, many people wait for long periods without an appropriate interim step.

The Green Perspective purposefully deploys nature and green spaces for people on GGZ waiting lists. As a meaningful bridging approach, it offers participants structure, a sense of purpose, and active engagement with their living environment. The use of nature strengthens mental resilience and helps prevent deterioration during the waiting period. Reciprocity is central: people experience the restorative effect of nature while also contributing to nature and society.

Within the Green GGZ partnership, this initiative has now been further developed into an Impulse Programme. NFH coordinated this development together with participating GGZ institutions, IVN, scientific and research institutions, nature and walking coaches, and partners in the social domain. Funding is currently being sought for the implementation of the programme. 

At the same time, small-scale Green Escape pilots are already being carried out, including in collaboration with GGZ Mondriaan in Limburg. These practical experiences show that active participation in nature during the waiting period provides perspective and structure and contributes to recovery and social engagement.

The initiative aligns with the Integrated Care Agreement (IZA), the development of Mental Health Networks (MGNs), and the Health domain of the Collective Nature-Inclusive.

Young People, Mental Health and Nature

The mental health of young people is under increasing pressure. Performance expectations, social media, uncertainty about the future and feelings of loneliness affect a growing number of young people. More and more experience stress, low mood or emotional overload.

For Nature For Health (NFH), youth mental health is therefore an explicit priority. We see nature as a fundamental source of recovery, resilience and connection. Being outdoors helps young people to slow down, ground themselves and regain perspective – individually and together.

NFH works towards a coherent and scalable approach in which nature contributes to strengthening young people, while young people also give something back to nature. In this way, we connect personal resilience with care for the living environment.

We build on existing initiatives, connect partners and ensure that effective approaches can be transferred and replicated.

Green Escape – national programme

Society is accelerating, yet a growing number of young people face mental and physical challenges that risk leaving them on the margins. Green Escape, an initiative of the Collective Nature-Inclusive movement, reconnects young people with nature.

A green space offers a Green Escape: room to ground oneself, to be outdoors and to step away from daily pressures. Experiences in nature provide calm and recovery, strengthen social connection and can support a renewed sense of meaning. At the same time, they encourage active care for nature itself.

NFH makes an active content-based and connecting contribution to the Green Escape initiative and its accompanying Impulse Programme, working on coherence, quality and transferability.

Examples of NFH involvement

Below are several projects in which NFH is closely involved:

• the area-based implementation of Green Escape in the Van Gogh National Park, together with IVN and regional partners, including the Public Health Service (GGD) Hart voor Brabant and the municipalities of Tilburg and Oisterwijk;
• the FARO project, linking heritage, landscape and mental health in collaboration with the Van Gogh Sites Foundation;
• walks and nature-based gatherings for young people, in partnership with organisations such as Brabant Maatjes.

By connecting national and regional lines of action, we are building a sustainable and nature-inclusive approach to youth mental health.