Christine Tappan entered school right after the law for disabled children to attend regular schools was passed. She is a Certified FTHub Forest Therapy Practitioner. Throughout her 25-year career in health and human services, Christine has held various executive roles, including Associate Commissioner of New Hampshire’s Department of Health and Human Services. She has also lead domestic U.S. strategy for technical assistance and capacity building across health, social, and economic policy. And became one of the first child care providers for families who were in the U.S. military.
Christine is also the creator of Birchwalking, where she offers nature-based interventions. Why birch? “They are the capacity builders of the forest, they create, they help the forest be fertile and to create more growth. They’re the first tree that grows after a fire or a flood“. Christine is participating in the III Global Summit Science, Nature and Health.
“I think about nature as my very most important friend right now; it’s my biggest support. As a child, I wore braces on my legs, I couldn’t walk. So my mother would sit me down underneath a willow tree, at the edge of a small lake in Michigan, and I would be able to play there with the branches.
“As I grew older, I went into the army. In part, it was because I was very comfortable being outside. I was very comfortable sleeping in the woods as a scout. Cooking, washing myself, spending time in nature. I didn’t have any fears and in fact, I really enjoyed it.”
“But like a lot of people around the world, I became disconnected from nature as I went to college and started working on a computer. Then I went into the professional field as a social worker by training, eventually became a manager and later I realized that my time in nature became smaller and smaller and smaller.”
“About five years ago I experienced a very difficult situation with burnout in the social work field or human service field, feeling a variety of symptoms. I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t eat. I was not thinking as well. I could have a hard time making decisions. Very anxious.”
“I always say ‘from trauma to trees’, because the trees saved my life, saved my career. So that’s what I’ve been really working towards over the last five years, getting certified and then deepening my understanding and experiences.”
“As I grew up, you know, my family cultivated caring for others and taking care of ourselves. As I got older, I was really drawn to social work as a profession that’s based on social justice and advocacy and everyone having access to whatever it is they want and need to be able to do, including an education.
“But when I was in the army, I met my husband and we had our first child, and we were living in Europe, and we decided that I would get out, and I got out: I became one of the first child care providers for families who were in the military in our American military in history.”
“I was hearing people’s stories over and over and over again and not being sure you’re making progress? Like, am I making the world better? We call that vicarious trauma. The energy that I was giving and was not refilling. And that’s where nature really intervened and said, ‘Oh, hey a minute.’ You know, remember. I think I was forgetting about it as a source.”
From Trauma to Tress
“My keynote is called Nature, the new frontier? And I feel like as I’ve been able to be a part of FTHub, I feel like my practice has both deepened and expanded. So I am working with more targeted groups of people, more specifically with the organizations that they’re in.
“The name of my small business is Birchwalking. Birch trees are like the capacity builders of the forest, they create, they help the forest be fertile and to create more growth. They’re the first tree that grows after a fire or a flood.”
“I’m very focused on how nature can inspire you as a manager, a supervisor, a leader, or someone providing direct care. How can it inspire you? And how can it care for you as you do that? How can you develop a relationship with nature that refills your cup, but also helps you be a more thoughtful leader, a more thoughtful manager?”
The big line
“I was excited to become one of the Nature Connection Specialist Accredited trainers. Even before COVID here in the US, we were having lots of people leave social services, human services, psychology, nurses, doctors, they were just leaving because of burnout. And I thought, is this maybe something I could do to help, you know?
“I think my journey and what I love about Forest Therapy Hub is hearing from so many people worldwide thinking about how to help others understand that being with nature is both so simple and so rich—so complex at the same time. You don’t want to make it sound so easy that they don’t see the value of certain practices, but also not so exclusive that it seems like a guide is the only way to experience it. That’s a big line”.
“If you simply have a sit spot every day for 15 minutes, you’re going to help your well-being. But even better, if you go with a guide and have someone create that safe container, you just flow—you don’t have to plan or think about it.I think this is our challenge and our opportunity”.
Ph: Courtesy Christine Tappan
