The Mental Health Benefits of Outdoor Experiences for Children Who Have Experienced Trauma

For children carrying trauma, it can be one of the more forgiving places to begin healing. The outdoors can offer something a room rarely can: a chance to feel safe, regulated and in control, without having to put it into words.

At Wilderness Way, this isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s built into how we care for children, and it’s backed by a growing body of UK research into nature, recovery and children’s mental health.

Why Trauma Responds Differently to the Outdoors

Children who have experienced trauma often carry it somewhere talking struggles to reach. Traditional, room-based conversation can ask a dysregulated nervous system to sit still and explain itself – not always realistic, and not always fair to expect.

Green space works differently. Two established psychological theories help explain why: Stress Reduction Theory and Attention Restoration Theory both describe natural environments as places that ask less of an already overloaded mind, allowing children to settle before any deeper emotional work begins.

This lines up with what UK trauma specialists are finding more broadly. A review of trauma-informed approaches for looked after children found that developmental trauma often shows up as behaviour long before it shows up as words, meaning services need multiple ways in, not just one (Miller, Nair and Majumder, 2023). Outdoor, embodied experience is one of those additional ways to engage – something we explore further in why relationships matter in therapeutic residential care.

The UK Evidence Base

A pilot Social and Therapeutic Horticulture programme in North West England worked with school children experiencing behavioural, emotional and social difficulties, some looked after, some seeking asylum. Sessions facilitated by horticulturists and a CAMHS psychotherapist were linked to gains in emotional wellbeing, self-help and a sense of belonging (Chiumento et al., 2018).

The Born in Bradford study, one of the UK’s largest ongoing child health research projects, found a measurable link between the amount and quality of green space near a child’s home and their mental wellbeing at just four years old (Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust).

Natural England’s People and Nature Survey found the great majority of young people say being in nature makes them genuinely happy, and that those who get outside at least weekly are considerably more likely to report high wellbeing (UK Youth, 2024).

A systematic review of neighbourhood green space and adolescent mental wellbeing found consistently protective effects, particularly where the quality of the space, not just its existence, was strong (Feng and Astell-Burt, 2017).
During the COVID-19 pandemic, when many usual supports fell away, regular outdoor recreation was linked to greater psychological resilience among young people already prone to anxiety and low mood (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2021).

None of this suggests a walk replaces therapy. It suggests the outdoors regulates first, so the harder emotional work has somewhere stable to land.

Building Confidence, Trust and Connection Outdoors

Children in therapeutic residential care have often had control taken from them, by circumstance, by adults, or by systems moving faster than they could keep up with. The outdoors offers something rare: low-stakes choice. Which path to take. Whether to climb the rock or walk round it. Being the one who spotted the deer first.

These small, repeatable moments of agency matter for a young person rebuilding trust in themselves.

The outdoors also builds connection without demanding conversation on cue, which matters for children whose trust in adults has been damaged. Walking, building a den or tending a patch of ground lets relationship happen side by side rather than head-on. For one child, this might mean finding the confidence to climb a hill they never thought possible. For another, it might simply be sitting quietly around a campfire with trusted adults. It’s a theme that also runs through what makes therapeutic care homes different: understanding what sits underneath a child’s behaviour, and meeting it patiently.

One of our children put this better than any study could, reflecting on doing outdoor activities with a member of our team:
“Because it was my first time coming up here from London, at first I was scared to do some of the activities. I wanted to do them but wasn’t confident enough. But doing the activities with Ben has been such a boost. He always pushes me to go further and encourages me and I always look forward to going out with him. He has become like a brother to me, and doing outdoor activities with him has been my favourite part of being at Wilderness.”
 

How This Looks at Wilderness Way

This thinking sits behind everyday choices across our homes, not as an add-on activity slot, but as environment and relationship-building rolled into one.

Our Wilderness Experiences have been part of our approach since we were founded in 2006. Kayaking, gyhll scrambling, mountain biking and wild camping remain part of how children build confidence and resilience with us today.

Outdoor experience is also woven into our Health and Wellbeing approach, sitting within our NATURE model alongside attachment-informed and trauma-responsive therapeutic support.

Fells walked with a key worker rather than talked at across a table. Gardens dug rather than described. Weather experienced rather than watched through a window. It’s consistent with what the research keeps finding: the outdoors doesn’t just support young people’s mental health. Because sometimes the greatest breakthroughs don’t happen within four walls – they happen beneath open skies.

Sources and Further Reading

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (n.d.) Research uncovers link between green space and children’s mental health. Available at: Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

Chiumento, A., Mukherjee, I., Chandna, J., Dutton, C., Rahman, A. and Bristow, K. (2018) ‘A haven of green space: learning from a pilot pre-post evaluation of a school-based social and therapeutic horticulture intervention with children’, BMC Public Health, 18, p. 836. Available at: BMC Public Health

Feng, X. and Astell-Burt, T. (2017) ‘The relationship between neighbourhood green space and child mental wellbeing depends upon whom you ask: multilevel evidence from 3083 children aged 12–13 years’, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 14(3), p. 235. Available at: IJERPH

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2021) ‘Outdoor activity participation improves adolescents’ mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic’. Available at: IJERPH via PMC

Miller, N., Nair, S. and Majumder, P. (2023) ‘Is it “just” trauma? Use of trauma-informed approaches and multi-agency consultation in mental healthcare of looked after children’, BJPsych Bulletin. Available at: BJPsych Bulletin via PMC

UK Youth (2024) Outdoor learning is vital for children’s mental health. Available at: UK Youth