Taking part in a nature survey might involve counting birds, animals or insects in a particular time and place, or reporting individual sightings of wildlife. Annual surveys include the Big Garden Birdwatch and the Big Butterfly Count.
If you don’t have a dog and would like to spend time with one, you can offer to be a pet sitter in your local neighbourhood, volunteer to walk dogs for an animal shelter, or ask to borrow a friend’s dog for occasional evening or weekend walks.
You can try birdwatching by hanging a bird feeder outside a window, or if there’s space and you have permission, you could build a small wooden nesting box on a tree or under a windowsill.
To help connect with animals, you can watch out for wildlife. If you don’t live near open countryside, try visiting a local park to look for squirrels, fish, insects, ducks and other birds. Visit a local community or city farm and help out by volunteering.
You can get out into nature and help the environment by going on a litter-picking walk, volunteering for a conservation project, planting helpful seeds such as berry bushes for garden birds or flowers to help bees, or building an animal habitat.
Hill walking or camping can help to reduce depression and anxiety. When out in nature, you will be focused on staying warm, fed, watered, and knowing where you are, leaving your mind free of daily stresses so you can spend your time being in the moment.
by mental health nurse Ashley Peterson.
Sometimes the things that are most important in life are the most difficult to talk about, especially when it comes to mental health. Yet all silence does is make the hard stuff even harder. The more we talk about mental health the easier it gets, and that’s how change can start to happen.
by Medical Student thedepressedmedicalstudent.
When I was approached by Respect Yourself to make a blog post, two feelings floated through my mind. The first was gratitude at being asked to contribute to a charity with such a worthwhile cause. The second was confusion at what I should write. What, I thought, would be a good topic to try to help as many people as possible?