Can Trees Help Heal Grief?: Liz Gleeson on Forest Therapy

About the event

Why are we drawn to woods, water or open spaces after a bereavement? What is it about the natural world that can steady us when everything else has shifted?

In this conversation, psychotherapist and grief educator Liz Gleeson joins author Dr Michael Malay to explore why time outdoors can feel both grounding and expansive, offering a place where emotions can surface without pressure. The discussion focuses on Liz’s research into how Forest Therapy can support us when we are grieving, calming the nervous system and promoting physical and emotional wellbeing.

With reflections on attention, presence, and seasonal change, Liz and Michael consider how being among trees can help us make meaning, feel less alone, and reconnect, not by escaping grief, but by giving it space. As Rachel Carson wrote, ‘There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature’.