Helpful resources
The following resources may be of interest around mental wellbeing. If you would like more supported guidance or are experiencing more severe problems, speak to a health professional or call 111.
For Lara, nature has been an ally to support neurodiversity and accompanying symptoms. She shares her story and the supportive space she has created for others.
As a neurodiverse individual, Lara has a great understanding of some of the challenges faced – particularly emotionally:
“When we are neurodivergent, we struggle with our executive function including emotional regulation. This often plays havoc with our professional and personal lives. However, it is most definitely not a measure of how bright we are. It doesn't negate how highly capable in other areas of our lives we might be. It can lead to horrible stress, shame and reduce our capacity to undertake daily tasks.”
"As a high achiever, masking has been quite a big part of my life. I achieved the highest grades at school, went to a top University, excelled at sports and built a successful business while bringing up a baby. The revelations about how my brain has held me back have might have come as a surprise, but they also gave me a sense of relief. They explained why under the water, like the swan who looks graceful but is madly paddling underneath, I struggled with anxiety in almost every social interaction, and self doubt was my inner critic. Now, with an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses neurodiversity gives me I have a much greater sense of compassion for myself."
[being neurodivergent] is most definitely not a measure of how bright we are. It doesn't negate how highly capable in other areas of our lives we might be.
Lara
“Nature has been my natural anti-depressant and constant ally for the last three decades. I set up Botanic Shed, a School of Nature based in Oxford, to help more people experience the ‘green cure.’ Discoveries about my brain in recent years have been pivotal in helping me create a better life.”
“There are many ways to approach the treatment of neurodivergent symptoms. Although I personally have not taken medication (yet), I support the point made by the psychologist Barbara Ingersoll, who said. “Asking if you should use medication or a complementary therapy to treat ADHD is like asking whether you should eat fruits or vegetables - you often need both.”
Nature to the rescue
A sun dappled driveway at a house where Lara gardens
Lara was not diagnosed as neurodiverse until later in life, which caused great pressure for her. She then experienced major events as a young adult that made this worse:
“Just two years into university, I started a family which shortly afterwards shattered catastrophically. It left me quite scarred and shocked. I then struggled for 20 years with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) alongside undiagnosed ADHD and a significant number of autistic traits.”
Having access to nature when she needed it most was an invaluable support:
“Lucky me, I had nature on my side in many forms. I was able to retreat to my parents' house in a small village in Oxfordshire, where I had gardened through my childhood. I could work outside and walk for hours a day.”
“Gardening, I think, has been a massively effective medicine for me. Several studies support the use of gardening to rehabilitate people with a whole range of mental health symptoms. In the book ‘Magical Parent, Magical Child by Mendizza and Pearce, they describe the garden as a setting for optimum learning relationships. It is somewhere waiting to be discovered, with a lack of fixed rules, and an interaction that is changing and adapting daily.”
I spent so much time outdoors ... it was my love and my medicine. I saw patterns in the trees that comforted me. I needed them.
Lara
“Throughout my twenties and thirties, I experienced high-level anxiety and bouts of feeling low. I spent so much time outdoors at this time, it was my love and my medicine. I saw patterns in the trees that comforted me. I needed them.”
“My outdoors time was and still is a non-negotiable part of life. I needed her most when I was in employment, facing the challenges of expectations of attention to detail that I couldn’t meet, or interaction with confrontational or dishonest people. My anxiety spiked painfully in these situations.”
A new assessment
A collection of different rose varieties growing in Lara's garden
Having used nature to support her through challenging times in early adulthood, further difficulties had a huge effect on Lara:
“There came a breaking point recently, in my early forties. My physical health declined considerably. My Mum thought I had cancer. The NHS discovered that I had been coping with undiagnosed post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for two decades. This ‘stress disorder’ had obviously been compromising my executive functioning (focus, memory, impulses) and gave me an aura of vulnerability which made everything quite a struggle. At the same time, I was assessed for ADHD by my GP.”
“My sister then got diagnosed with ADHD. She would never have been at all aware of it had her therapist not been curious as to why she was finding life so hard. At the time, she quite literally said “I think you’ve got the wrong sister.” What she meant was that my ADHD traits were so obvious. Then, we didn’t know how well-hidden ADHD could be in people like her. She is a thoroughbred organizer, practical minded, but her brain was crushing under the pressure. ADHD is often hidden or expressed in depression in women.”
“Anxiety, depression and constantly feeling stupid and that we are not fulfilling our potential are typical experiences for people with ADHD. These have been themes of my life and nature has been a key medicine against depression and anxiety.”
Lara’s natural medicine cabinet
Plants growing in one of Lara's gardens
Lara has discovered a wide range of ways she can use nature as part of her personal care:
“Plants indoors, images of plants and trees, breathwork and qigong outdoors, walking and gardening are all bottled up in my own figurative medicine cabinet alongside my plant remedies. My routine plant checks help me slow down. I can then take that slower speed to planning my workday and my interaction with humans, who aren’t so forgiving of mistakes or spontaneous outbursts.”
Plants indoors, images of plants and trees, breathwork and qigong outdoors, walking and gardening are all bottled up in my own figurative medicine cabinet alongside my plant remedies.
Lara
As an RHS-trained horticulturist, now with her own school of nature, Lara has looked at a large body of research around how time in nature can support ADHD:
“ASD traits can be improved by time spent in nature. A teacher interviewed in a Natural England Report stated: What I have found working with autistic children is that they just are different when you take them into nature, to how they are in a classroom … I think they feel much more relaxed, they seem to understand the environment, they feel more comfortable – maybe because they are much freer to roam and explore, and to be involved in the sensory aspects of nature.
“Mauline Vernon, an ADHD specialist at ADHD in Balance Ltd in London, provides training to organisations and families to help them to understand and manage symptoms of ADHD. She says: We recognise the vital role that nature plays in supporting those with ADHD. (for example) breathing in naturally occurring scents will support the brain functioning of those who have ADHD, whether in a wooded area full of trees, or your garden, our clients benefit from immersing themselves with any of the scents they notice in the natural environment around them.”
Nature takes its own time. I can't speed it up or slow it down. So, nature is a reminder I don't - and shouldn't - control everything.
Sara-Louise Ackrill, founder of Wired Differently
“Sara-Louise Ackrill, who lives with ADHD and Autism and was voted Top 80 UK Neurodiversity Evangelists 2023, is a Social Entrepreneur and founder of Wired Differently. She says: "Nature takes its own time. I can't speed it up or slow it down. So, nature is a reminder I don't - and shouldn't - control everything ... And as much as I love man-made construction and am uplifted by architecture for example, there is something really grounding and reassuring in nature. That feeling we all need sometimes that nature is far bigger than any of us. As a neurodivergent person who by nature thrives on intensity... this is appealing to me. Or maybe it's being neurodivergent that means I interpret this in the first place."
Finding a supportive environment
Lara summarises some of the ways nature helps individuals with neurodiversity:
“Having nature in our environment helps us to focus (even on the boring tasks). We have less cortisol spikes, as a part of a holistic system of approaches to help us feel calmer and achieve our goals. Our brains have means that are out of reach to those without neurodivergences. Yes, we can think faster, see more clearly and create more prolifically. But we can also fail faster, make mistakes more often and seek out dopamine hits that distract us. Impulsive, addictive shopping has most definitely been a downfall for me.”
“We need to understand our brains, know what works and structure an environment around us that supports our cognitive function. Because who knows where the mind can take us if it’s healthy and happy.”
“The biophilia hypothesis says humans are innately attracted to nature. That exposure to it is beneficial for the development of a brain is far more than a hypothesis for me. Biophilia is vital to my survival.”
Botanic Shed is a community of gardeners and healers. It is home to The School of Nature, a personal development school for women, where gardening and spirituality meet to support mental health, based in Oxfordshire. It was set up by Lara and her daughter in 2021 supported by a like-minded group, including a therapeutic horticulturalist from Thrive. The group offers garden management consultancy and design, garden maintenance, a variety of nature therapy workshops and classes and life coaching.
"I want to help women live their lives using biophilia as their leading language. The way it’s meant to be. So we can better support ourselves and help the boys and men around us open their hearts to help us all create lives that are aligned with mother nature, abundant with truth and harmony."
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