My undergraduate degree is Environmental Studies, but I didn’t want to go into bioremediation or policy. Instead, I was drawn to working with people and communities. My interest in environmental justice and mental health aligns perfectly with social work’s focus on justice and equitable community resources!

If I could do it all, I would like to address food insecurity and provide mental health support by creating an urban farm that provides horticultural therapy. There are some really cool organizations that use both horticultural and adventure therapy to work with currently or formerly incarcerated folks, seniors, and other socially isolated groups. Programs like Insight Garden Program in California provide job training and mental health skills through gardening and being outdoors, and I want to emulate those programs in Indianapolis someday!

My passion is ecotherapy, which involves working with nature to leverage the restorative benefits it has for our minds and bodies! I love learning about current research in the field and seeing how organizations around the world apply it in different types of ecotherapy programs. Learning about specific macro social work theories and tools that overlap with ecotherapy strategies is exciting for me.

I’m currently working on a project alongside the Center for Urban Ecology & Sustainability to develop a place-based ecotherapy guide for students to use on Butler University’s campus. It provides activities in and around campus to help students unplug, destress, and support other mental health tools and interventions they may be using. The result of the project will be two guided activity trails, an online resource guide, and a document that helps other universities implement similar programs at their school. This work inspired the platform @Ecotherapy4All which I contribute to on Instagram! If you’d like to join in a restorative nature walk or group ecotherapy activity in Indianapolis, reach out to me at maribyer@iu.edu!

Something I’ve learned from exploring my passion for this little-known field is that the more you talk about it (whatever your passion is), the more connections you’ll find. At first, I was hesitant to share my career goals since ecotherapy is not mainstream in the U.S. and I worried what people might think, but sharing with others has opened the door for collaborative projects, informational interviews, and finding teachers.

Favorite quote: “One is never balanced; one is always balancing.” -Teo Drake.

I find this quote helpful whenever I feel overwhelmed and need to reframe!