Everything To Know About Nature-Based Therapy in Denver, CO

Mountain lake with rocky shores, snow patches on green mountains, partly cloudy sky.
Illustration of a pine tree with brown branches against a black background.

So, What is Nature-Based Therapy?

Nature-based therapy, often referred to as Ecotherapy, invites us to reconnect with the natural world in a meaningful and intentional way. It centers on the idea that our well-being is deeply intertwined with the natural world around us, and that spending time in nature can restore a sense of grounding, presence, and belonging. Through guided experiences outdoors or with nature-based practices, nature-based therapy helps us return to our core needs for connection, balance, and mutual relationship. By nurturing our relationship with the land, we learn to live more gently and authentically within ourselves.

Nature as "Co-Therapist": How It Works

Ecotherapy helps bring the healing qualities of the natural world into the work we do together. Instead of being limited to an office, sessions can take place outdoors: walking trails, sitting under trees, near water, or in any accessible outdoor space. The environment becomes part of the process, helping you connect more deeply to your body, your emotions, and your sense of grounding.

Nature-Based therapy is a way to incorporate using the natural world around as a partner and collaborator in your healing journey. It can offer new insights in comparison to traditional talk therapy. Many clients find that being outside helps reduce pressure, eases anxiety, and makes it easier to access parts of themselves that previously felt hard to connect with in traditional office settings.

3 Benefits of Nature-Based Therapy

  • There is a growing body of research showing that spending time outdoors, or feeling more connected to the natural world, can lower cortisol levels, reduce stress, and support nervous system regulation. Natural environments provide steady sensory input, such as fresh air, changing light, and gentle movement, which can help calm an overactivated nervous system and create a greater sense of safety in the body. For many people, this regulation happens more naturally outside than in a traditional office setting.

    In addition to these physiological benefits, nature-based therapy can reduce the interpersonal pressure that sometimes comes with sitting face-to-face in a room. For some clients, direct eye contact or remaining seated can feel awkward, overwhelming, or triggering. Walking side-by-side shifts the focus outward, allowing conversation to unfold more organically. This shared movement often makes anxiety feel more manageable, helps clients speak more freely, and creates a sense of ease that supports deeper connection and reflection.

  • Movement and environmental change can gently disrupt feelings of stuckness that often accompany depression, burnout, or shutdown. Being in a new environment also interrupts habitual loops of rumination, making it easier to access perspective and curiosity and break cycles of depression, negative self-talk, and shame.

    Nature-based therapy supports this shift by pairing physical movement or nature with intentional therapeutic reflection. As the landscape changes, clients often notice a renewed sense of agency, motivation, and possibility. Forward motion becomes embodied rather than forced, helping reintroduce energy, choice, and a felt sense that change is possible, even when progress has felt inaccessible indoors or with rigid therapeutic models.

  • Nature is queer! Nature exists outside of norms, binaries, and rigid boxes. Because of this, many queer, trans, and nonbinary clients report that outdoor spaces can feel less restrictive than traditional clinical settings. Nature-based therapy offers room to explore identity, authenticity, and self-definition outside of rigid norms or expectations.

Deer grazing in a grassy meadow with tall trees and a mountain in the background, under a sky with light clouds.
Line drawing of a brown backpack with a front pocket and two straps on top.

Is Nature-Based Therapy Right for You?

Nature-based therapy may be a good fit if you:

  • Feel disconnected from your body or emotions

  • Struggle with anxiety, burnout, or depression

  • Feel constrained by traditional office-based therapy

  • Want therapy that feels more holistic and embodied

  • Are curious about integrating nature into your healing process

You do not need to be “outdoorsy,” athletic, or spiritually inclined for this approach to be effective. Nature-based therapy can feel less formal, less intimidating, and more spacious. It allows you to show up as you are, move at your own pace, and engage with therapy in a way that feels more embodied and intuitive. If the idea of being outdoors, moving your body, or finding connection and healing through partnership with the natural world, this approach might be a good fit for you.

Scenic view of a mountain landscape with tall trees in a forest, green meadow, and mountain peaks under a partly cloudy sky.

FAQ About Outdoor Therapy

  • Absolutely. You don’t need to be a hiker, camper, or nature expert. Nature-based therapy isn’t about being “outdoorsy.” It is about connecting to the natural world that we often forget we are a part of! In doing so, you have the opportunity to experience healing through a relationship with nature. Sessions can be as simple as sitting on a bench, walking at a gentle pace, or finding a quiet, shaded spot. We work together to explore what feels safe and accessible for your body and your goals for therapy.

  • Year-round! We plan sessions with the weather in mind. Luckily, Colorado is a sunny sunny place!  If conditions are unsafe or simply not workable—extreme heat, heavy storms, poor air quality—we can always move the session indoors, online, or reschedule. We work together to discuss this upfront and determine thresholds for conducting sessions outdoors. 

  • Not at all. While many sessions take place outdoors, nature-based therapy can also happen indoors by bringing natural elements into the work. This might include mindful grounding with natural objects, guided imagery, eco-informed interventions, or exploring your personal connection to nature, even when we’re inside. The focus is on collaborating with nature as a therapeutic partner.

Nature-Based Mental Health Therapy and the Importance of Land Acknowledgements

Summit therapy incorporates land acknowledgements and discussion of how many nature-based healing practices are rooted in generations of Indigenous wisdom.

Summit Therapy acknowledges that we operate on the ancestral lands of the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Ute, and many other Indigenous peoples. We recognize that land acknowledgements are an important practice as they honor the long-standing history of Indigenous stewardship, bring visibility to ongoing injustices caused by colonization, and invite us to engage in meaningful accountability and relationship-building. We are committed to continually nurturing a reciprocal relationship with the land and honoring the Indigenous communities, past, present, and future, who have cared for it.

If you’re curious about nature-based therapy in the Denver Metro area, we invite you to explore whether this approach feels right for you.

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Healing doesn’t have to stay indoors! And you don’t have to do it alone.