New Developments at Larchwood!

Hi everyone! We wanted to update you on some of the work we are doing at Larchwood this Spring! As we know, exposure to nature can help:

·       decrease stress

·       improve emotional wellbeing

·       build resilience

·       develop social skills

·       support cognitive functioning and more!

Although we know these benefits exist, we are still looking for ways to measure these changes in our nature-based OT interventions at Larchwood. Over the past couple of weeks, I have been working on finding an evaluation tool that will help us measure change in the weekend nature OT groups at Todmorden Mills.

Why are we looking at evaluation outcome tools here at Larchwood?

Evaluation is an important part of occupational therapy because it helps us understand how useful and effective the interventions we provide are. We can use this information to make changes and improve future nature-based OT sessions for your kids. Since Nature OT is a newer area of practice, we need to research and try different tools to find the right one for our groups!

Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale

Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale we are using in our sessions this spring!

The first evaluation tool that I found is called the Inclusion of Nature in Self Scale. This scale uses two circles to help understand how a person sees their relationship with nature. So far, we have been trying to use this measure with the Spring groups at Todmorden Mills. We are hoping that this scale will help us understand how each kiddo in our program sees their relationship with nature before the program and if there are any changes in this relationship after the 8-weeks of the program!

Social Skills Improvement Scale Rating System

We are also looking at another measure called the social skills improvement system. This evaluation tool will help us measure and monitor whether there are changes in your children’s social skills after the program. Alanna and I are currently working on a research grant application to apply for funding so that we can buy this evaluation measure. We are hoping to try it out in the Fall and Winter groups!

Adventure Awaits!

My name is Katie, and I am a second-year occupational therapy student at the University of Toronto. I am really excited to be working with Alanna and the rest of the team with the nature OT programs in the city for my third fieldwork placement!

Growing up in a small town, I was surrounded by tons of greenspace, farms, and animals. I spent my summers at my cottage in Quebec. We didn’t have any cell service or internet access at my cottage, so our days were spent outdoors swimming, boating, exploring trails, and fishing. My favourite trail took us to some waterfalls where I was able to explore and build my confidence in nature.

My brother and I exploring the waterfalls by my cottage.

One of my favourite hikes!

These early experiences inspired a love of the outdoors and a drive to find new adventures. This passion has led me to seize opportunities to explore new environments from an expedition in the Amazon rainforest to the hiking in the Rocky Mountains to chasing the Northern Lights in the Northwest Territories. All these experiences made me feel a sense of peace and connectedness to the environments around me.

Since the start of the pandemic, I felt like I had to put these adventures on hold. I moved from Banff to Toronto, and I felt like I had lost my all-access pass to nature. So, when I learned about this placement opportunity, I knew I had to jump at it as it combined my passion for occupational therapy with my passion for the outdoors. I am so excited to see where this new adventure leads, and I hope that I can inspire the children in this program to love the outdoors as much as I do!