While this book had good intentions and I liked the down-to-earth style accepting that not everyone loves guided meditations and the well-being industry, I felt that it was a bit too snarky about that at times. In addition, there was too much detail - both on individual plants and birds (and I say that as a birdwatcher myself), and more dangerously, on the strategies people use to harm themselves. It's not the best practice in the world to list out the ways that people living with eating disorders hide their food, and throwaway comments about the ways people might use running with a note that a particular person is of course not doing that are not helpful. There is also a lot of talk about people trying to take their own lives, suggesting this is a very common feature of all mental illnesses - yes, it's common and needs speaking about but not to be made run of the mill.

I checked the acknowledgements and the author doesn't seem to have had a mental health specialist to consult on the text as a whole, and I think this was a shame.. There could be a lot to help in a book like this but it fell short in my mind.

Isabel Hardman's book is part mental health memoir, part journalism and part self help book. Covering her own mental health issues, we follow the author as she tries out a number of outdoor hobbies and therapies, and reports on several others, investigating the importance of nature and being in the outdoors to our general wellbeing. The writing is concise and very journalistic, which I found a useful way to convey the information in readable chapters. I did feel some element of the 'self-help' genre was missing from the book, apart from some discussions about noticing nature more on daily walks, which was perfect for the current climate.. In short, I enjoyed this book as a foray into the science and sociology of the outdoors, but perhaps not as much as I'd hoped as an inspiration to get out there and do it myself.

I was fascinated by the premise of this book so requested it and I am glad I did because I found all the Hardman had to say about the Natural Health Service really interesting. Basically it is a call to get outdoors into nature. Although not extensively scientifically proven, it does appear that being out in the natural environment, whether running, cycling, walking, cold water swimming, horse riding, bird watching; has a benefit.

Hardman does delve into the placebo effect. She talks about whether access to these forms of therapy are available to all, which they aren't really. She talks about how mental health isn't given the same priority or funding as certain physical ailments.

It was all rather interesting and thought provoking.

Many thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for the review copy.

requested this book from NetGalley because it was offering a take on mental health that I hadn’t read before. Isabel Hardman talks about her battle with mental illness through the lens of her experience with the great outdoors, and also how it has helped her feel better.

Though this book is, in a way, part memoir, Hardman doesn’t go into details about her illness. We learn that she has PTSD and that she struggles with getting out, with flashbacks, and paranoia. But she doesn’t describe what caused these symptoms, which I appreciate.

Because that’s not the point of this book. Hardman tells us just enough so that we have the context of her experience with nature and the outdoors, but not so much that it detracts from her main point.

It isn’t just her story we get either. Throughout the book, she features others who have used the great outdoors to help them cope with their illnesses. But she doesn’t talk about cures – she openly acknowledges that for many people, with many illnesses, talking about cures isn’t realistic.

She covers everything from forest bathing, to wild swimming, to running, and many other niches in-between. Some of the sections I wasn’t as interested in (wild swimming), whereas others I found really interesting and helpful (running).

The biggest reason The Natural Health Service didn’t get five stars is that at the beginning when Hardman is talking about her joy at re-igniting her love for gardening, we get lengthy descriptions of plants, trees and, later, birds. While these are well-written, and I am sure informative, I just wasn’t interested. So I skipped past them and honestly thought the book could have done without them.

I am incredibly grateful I got to read this book though because it has given me a new way to look at my own mental health. For a little while, I’ve been exploring the idea of simple living, and where I want to live eventually. The Natural Health Service, for me, fits in with this exploration. I am starting to take the idea of living closer to nature more seriously.

If you have any mental illness, or are just looking to improve your mental health, The Natural Health Service is well-worth reading. Some chapters perhaps won’t appeal to you as much as others, but there’s likely something you can take away.

Hardman’s argument is that nature is central to our lives and mental wellbeing. I think I’m beginning to believe her.

"What is important is learning to incorporate the great outdoors into your normal life, whatever shape that is...We have to see the Natural Health Service as something integral to our way of life."

Following trauma resulting in PTSD and as a result of a chance discovery of 'Orchidelirium' (Victorian orchid madness), political journalist Isabel Hardman returned to her childhood roots through botany. She found searching for plants and flowers calmed her mind, got her outside and gave her purpose. This led her to try and look into other ways nature can help metal illnesses. Each chapter covers different outdoor activities and discusses case study examples with those whose mental illnesses have diminished or been better managed as a result of them. Such activities include gardening, bird-watching, dog-walking, running, forest bathing and wildlife. We are part of nature and benefit from being experiencing it.

Published in hardback before the pandemic this paperback version (which I read a digital ARC of courtesy of @netgalley and @atlanticbooks) includes an extra chapter about how time outside in nature has become more valuable now life is restricted.

I've also experienced trauma, along with depression, postnatal depression, stress and anxiety and always find nature and being outdoors help me. Even now, during Lockdown 3.0, I always feel better for what I refer to a 'march' around the parkland I am lucky enough to live near to. Fresh air, exercise, the beautiful trees, plants and wildlife never cease to make me feel better, a small part of something bigger, which I try to impress upon my children. I've struggled previously living in towns and cities, find my current rural village, with its historic park and the countryside surrounding it, suits me better.

"...time and again an intervention from the great outdoors has made treatment that bit easier, life worth living and symptoms that bit less allconsuming."

I loved this simple and unique book. The Natural Health Service digs into how the great outdoors can help everyone’s mental health, drawing on her own experiences and others to support it. There are lots of brilliant ideas in this book, so readers can find something that works for them. It was written in an easy to read and grabbing way, and I think lots of different individuals could benefit from the book. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read and review this book.

This is a passionate and well argued book in which the author, Isabel Hardman, makes the suggestion that engaging with the great outdoors is not only good for your wellbeing but also for your mental health. She is a political journalist who had a traumatic event which she doesn’t dwell on and, as a result, developed mental health issues.
In order to manage her condition she started going outside her home and looking for flowers and plants along the way. She began to identify them, even the little ragged city street weeds, and began to be interested in botany. It isn’t long before she begins meeting other likeminded people and she branches out into running, cold water swimming and cycling amongst others. But it’s not just the activity itself but also about the people that she meets, people like herself who may be suffering in the same way, but work with nature to enhance their lives. Mental illness can make you feel very isolated especially if you don’t have much support and, if you can find the energy to do it, just being outside can be a reward. The author is very good at managing her illness and is aware of warning signs. Taking part in activity also means that people aren’t meeting you as a person with a problem but as someone who’s joining in or helping out.
The paperback edition of the book couldn’t be better timed. During the first lockdown, I felt and saw that people really engaged with nature and a really warm spring helped as well. I have always found that it’s often the people that you meet while exploring that can provide the most benefit. I have often found myself chatting to a complete stranger while we both admire a rainbow, a dazzling sunset or a host of roosting cormorants and for that moment or two we are both connected by the event before us before we go our separate ways, never to meet again.
The author quotes case studies and other research to support her case and these make for stimulating reading. In the final chapter, she presents a manifesto for a Natural Health Service but I felt that it needed more a framework. However, it does contain some thought provoking ideas. Mental illness is not well funded despite politicians promising much but often failing to deliver.
In many ways, Isabel Hardman was preaching to the converted as, whenever I have been between jobs without much money or just fed up, i take my camera and walk out of the door to see what i can find. It may only be looking round the back garden or on the way to the shops but I will find something to see. Not everything in this book will work for everyone but nature can change peoples lives for the better.
My thanks to the publisher and netgalley for an ARC.

Thanks to Atlantic Books and Netgalley for a copy of this.

The Natural Health Service is a book about how we can all use a bit of nature to improve our wellbeing.

I enjoyed the overall message of the book, and found the chapter on cold swimming particularly interesting.

I would have liked a bit more science in there, as I felt the book was mainly told through stories and anecdotes. I've read books similar to this in the past, but I think this lets it down.

However, it does make it more accessible to people this way, and if more people benefit from it, that's the most important thing.

Overall, I enjoyed this read and learning more about the natural world and things we can do to help keep ourselves well.

So I picked up this one from NetGalley as it sounded interesting.

I dont profess to be a massive fan of the great outdoors but the older I get the more I enjoy a walk and understand the benefits of being outdoors.

I found that this book was more targeted to people who have or are struggling with a mental illness, depression or such. As someone who has occasional monthly down periods I felt that although I could take advise from the book it was way too indepth for the sort of information I was looking for. I also struggled to identify with the author who was very into fitness which is not me at all!!

Anyone with an interest in mental health will really enjoy this but for me it was a little too descriptive.

The Natural Health Service: What the Great Outdoors Can Do For Your Mind was a thoroughly researched and interesting read.
“No one could have predicted the circumstances in which this book was first published. It was supposed to appear on bookshop shelves just as the weather was improving and spring leaves opening. It would be easy for people to put into practice the lessons about getting outdoors regularly to help their mental health needs.
But instead, the bookshops were closed, and people were told by the government and the police to stay at home to stop the spread of coronavirus. And yet, so many of our experiences in 2020 underlined the central arguments of this book.”
She talks about how the politicians are good at saying the right words when it comes to action on mental health but are not as quick at following it up.
She discusses the many studies into the effect of the outdoors on improving our mental health as well as her own battles with mental health.

In 2016 Isabel Hardman went on long term sick with severe depression and anxiety. The book details her recovery and many relapses using nature and exercise as her medication. Whilst a serious subject she manages to bring humour into what is often a taboo subject. She knows what she is talking about.

This was a very interesting read and consolidated a lot of my new thinking re needing to rebalance your life. It has been such a journey this year and I am exploring new ideas. I found the author very knowledgable as she was speaking from personal experience.

Over the last year I have reconnected more with nature and now also have a dog. I am working less and spending more time with the family - finally have the work/life balance I always wanted.

I was given an advance copy by netgalley and the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review which I have done so

Another great book, with mental health in mind which is so current in these times. It takes natural approaches to help and recovery through nature. It definitely makes you think how much you take the simple things for granted.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

In these times of great stress, this is a good reminder of all the free things that can support our health. I didn’t find much new here but it is a great summary of free, drug-free ways to increase our well being. Helpful good backup to studies proving the value of these activities..

The Natural Health Service is part memoir, part self-help and part manifesto setting out how we need to change as a country to help the needs of those with poor mental health.

Its publication at the start of 2021, after possibly the most difficult year in most people’s lives, is very timely. I expect many who thought they had good mental health prior to the pandemic of 2020 would benefit from reading this book. I concur very much with what the author has to say which is basically that getting outdoors and doing something helps to get and maintain good mental health. This might be strolling in a forest with purpose, cold-water swimming, running, walking, cycling, birdwatching or simply appreciating the botany around.

A lot of research has gone into this book as author and journalist, Isabel Hardman, writes of the many ways in which we can embrace outdoor pursuits with many examples of individuals, groups and organisations country wide who have done just that to great benefit.

I found some sections too detailed, especially the multitude of names of plants and trees. I would have preferred a more edited version, or at least illustrations to give us some idea what all the botany items look like. The basic message is very clear and one I would agree with wholeheartedly having experienced first-hand the benefits of getting outside daily during 2020. It’s a very practical read in terms of being inspirational in giving the reader encouragement to get outside more and ideas for what to do once there.

It’s a book that I will dip into again in the future as I maybe consider trying something different such as cold-water swimming, bird watching or learning more about botany on my daily walks.

With thanks to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was a very interesting book. Isabel Hardman explores the positive correlation between nature and health. She looks how being out of doors and physical activity (gardening, walking, running and horse riding being given as the detailed examples) can help improve mood and recovery from mental health conditions as well as a positive impact on some physical conditions too. This book reads more as a textbook than something you might simply read and pick up for enjoyment with many references, case studies, manifestos and academic links through out. I feel it is something that would be extremely beneficial for GPs and other health and social care practitioners to read and gain ideas from that may help patients. While people looking for solutions may also find this helpful, it’s more academic than self help. Really enjoyed reading and thinking about the content from this. Would have preferred a section that looked at options more accessible to those with severer physical limitations and disabilities however overall a fantastic read.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

The paperback edition of The Natural Health Service has been edited to reflect on Covid-19 and the mental health challenges it has brought to the UK, which differs from the original hardback edition. This book is even more relevant than ever in the wake of 2020.

It is multi-faceted. On the one hand, it is an extensive guide on how to utilise nature to improve our mental health and manage mental illness. On the other, it is the story of the author’s own battle with mental illness and how connecting with nature helped her survive and return to a job she loves. It’s also the stories of many other people who have turned to nature for mental health reasons, whether that’s therapists or patients themselves.

It’s an ode to the wonder of nature. Hardman writes about her hunts for elusive orchids, her dedication to seeing a kingfisher, her first encounter with a bittern. The little gems in nature that made her want to keep living. It is a joy to experience the joy she found in nature even as dark thoughts stalked her mind.

She says it how it is. Time in nature is not going to cure mental illness but it is an essential treatment alongside conventional treatment. She describes it as physio for the mind. Nature can make mental illness more bearable and more manageable.

Initially, as Hardman talks about horse-riding, gardening, having a personal trainer, her pets, wild swimming, this Natural Health Service feels like an exclusively middle-class concept.

But she is adamant about the importance of making the Natural Health Service accessible to everyone. She highlights that, despite perceptions, nature is free and is accessible to many. Most nature reserves and woodlands are free to visit. And many of these places are hidden in plain sight in our urban areas.

Hardman lays out the wide range of research indicating that nature helps mental health in a relevant and engaging way. The author tests out various initiatives such as forest bathing.

She also goes through research into the various methods of managing mental health and highlights how nature can support us in using those methods in a holistic way. For example, using nature for mindfulness and writing a nature-focused gratitude journal.

As a journalist, she does make efforts to be balanced in her presentation of research and anecdotes. Hardman accepts that perhaps much of it is down to the placebo effect. I suspect she does not believe this however based on her own experiences. But even if this is the case, she argues that is not a reason to discount it. Nature works even if we’re not always sure why.

The last chapters are a call to action. A manifesto for an urgently needed Natural Health Service to help us cope with a mental health crisis and to support our under -resourced National Health Service. She speaks out about the dangers our children are facing from ‘Nature Deficit Disorder’. The threats nature faces and the threat to ourselves is explored too.

I would highly recommend this book for anyone struggling with their own mental health, for friends and family of those with mental illness, for GPs, therapists, MPs and policy-makers. This book reaffirmed what I personally hold to be true about nature and also taught me so much more.

Isabel Hardman is one of the foremost political journalists operating in Britain today. A few years ago, she suffered a breakdown following a personal trauma. Her new book extolling the considerable health benefits which can be enjoyed by going outside and fully appreciating the merits of the natural world is especially timely, coming as it does, at a time when so many are struggling with the daily upkeep of their mental health.

The importance of the outdoors for mental health is stressed in this book, and the author was told, jokingly I think, that she got out too much. I fully appreciate the authors comments about the value of gardens, plants and the outdoors in general. That is why I am giving it 5 stars.

At a time when mental health is so high on the news agenda, this is a clearly written and accessible book about the many ways in which a connection with the natural world can help. All of the chapters were interesting in their own way, but I felt there was too much repetition, especially in the chapters about plants, and I found myself skimming. Given that I love my garden, nature, trees, and that I don't enjoy swimming, I was much more interested in the cold-water therapy than the botany.

Clearly the book is well-researched with many studies described and referenced, but the author does stray into throw-away remarks which are unhelpful and I wonder why they are included. For example, in her negative comments about the wellness industry and what she describes as 'quackery', she mentions 'the threat milk poses to your sanity'. I imagine that no such theory has been put forward and that it is an invented example which does nothing to illustrate the point she is trying to make.

My favourite chapters were towards the end, about the health of our planet and the shocking lack of exposure of children to the natural world.