Meet the Team
"Nature is the therapist, the guide opens the doors"
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy
Co-founder
Dr Karen Rushton
As an NHS GP with a special interest in adolescent medicine, Karen has used her position as a Churchill Fellow to gain experience in nature therapy from around the world. She co-founded Roots Nature Therapy with Simone in order to use the expertise gained in Canada and Japan locally in the UK. She has developed Roots Nature Therapy specifically for young people, providing a unique opportunity for connection, healing, and growth in a natural environment. She is particularly skilled at helping young people and families living with neurodiversity.
Co-founder
Simone York
Simone is a certified Forest Therapy Guide with a passion for connecting children and young people with nature. With extensive experience in implementing nature therapy programs in schools, she is an entrepreneur and innovator at heart. As a proud mother she understands the importance of fostering a love for the outdoors and creating enriching experiences for families. Simone is excited to use her expertise to inspire others to embrace the healing power of nature.
About Our Work
Our Approach
With nature guiding our mission, we have developed a research and physiology based program for young people that supports effective self calming skills and emotional regulation.
Time spent consciously connecting to nature helps to balance our current state of device and sensory overload and nature deprivation. This leads to connection, grounding and an increased ability to navigate and regulate our emotional wellbeing. Other benefits include improved cognition, reduced levels of stress and anxiety, and increased creativity.
Workshops are offered in schools and through social prescribing in an engaging format modified for each age group. These nature practices can be used in any setting making them easily accessible at any time.
Our goal is to promote an awareness of how these simple and accessible nature-based skills can support the students, staff and family; and for these principles to become a common coping methodology at school, at home and in the community.
Nature on Prescription is a new program beginning in September 2026 in partnership with Dose of Nature, a London based charity. Currently accepting referrals for Young People between the ages of 11-18 based in Lewes or Hove, East Sussex. Please email us to learn more.
Become a Dose of Nature Volunteer Guide
Are you passionate about nature and keen to support others in improving their mental health? At Dose of Nature, our volunteer guides play a vital role in helping people reconnect with the natural world to improve wellbeing, reduce anxiety, and build resilience.What You’ll Do as a Volunteer Nature Guide
As a trained volunteer, you will:
-
Lead one-to-one nature-based sessions with clients referred through their GP or professional health services.
-
Support people on an 8-week journey to reconnect with green spaces and develop their own relationship with nature.
-
Offer empathy, encouragement, and guidance whilst using our Dose of Nature techniques, providing compassionate conversation and presence.
-
Commit to a half-day per week for a minimum of 9–12 months.
“You don’t need to be a therapist—just someone who listens, walks, and inspires through nature.”
Nature on Prescription
What is a Dose of Nature prescription?
A Dose of Nature prescription is an eight-week programme that introduces individuals to the mental health benefits of spending time in nature. It aims to inspire lifestyle changes that will have a significant and lasting impact on mental wellbeing. This is achieved through a combination of education, first-hand experience and practical and motivational support, led by a trained Dose of Nature Guide.
What does it involve?
After a GP referral, clients meet with a Dose of Nature clinician, who discusses their individual needs and explains more about the programme and the mental health benefits of being in nature. The clients are matched with a trained volunteer, a 'Dose of Nature Guide'.
Over a period of eight weeks, our clients meet their Dose of Nature Guide in a natural space once a week and visit nature independently every day. Together they plan where and when they will spend time in natural environments. During their weekly meetings in nature, the Guide demonstrates to the client a variety of exercises and activities, encouraging them to engage all their senses in order to gain maximum health benefits from their time in nature.
Alongside one-to-one contact with the Dose of Nature Guide, clients are also given the opportunity to link with other people in receipt of a nature prescription, and to make independent arrangements to meet for walks or to visit natural environments together. This is an optional, additional element of our Dose of Nature prescription that many people find a highly effective way of ensuring they continue to spend time in nature once the ten-week programme has been completed.
Address
Beautiful woods and forests around Lewes, East Sussex
School Campus
