Bird Therapy

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For two years, I’ve been writing about the therapeutic benefits of bird-watching, keen to share my own positive experiences with those who ended up reading. My remit for this blog was simply to write about the mental health benefits of being active in and for nature, and although I have written extensively on this topic I found it difficult to focus in on one single element - perhaps as I had explored so many notions throughout my writing. As well as being good for us an active sense, outdoor environments enthral us and fascinate us. They are a powerful piece of our own resilience toolkit, for removing ourselves from the chaotic trappings of everyday life. Adding birds to this gives another facet to experience. A further distraction and one we can observe, focus on and become absorbed in. Such solace can be found in just watching your garden birds come and go, learning their nuances and finding out just who they are. Conversely, spending time on my own – reflecting, thinking and being, has helped me to find who I really am again. Cover for Bird Therapy by Joe Harkness and published by Outbound Books (2019). Joe Harkness / Bird Therapy / Outbound Books Movement patterns are commonly referred to at B.I.R.D. as exercises. Exercise programmes are non-invasive, non-strenuous and are drug-free. Typically programmes are performed within the person’s own home, each day with the help of 1-2 parents/carers. Each exercise programme is tailored to the individual person, but programmes take, in general, thirty minutes to complete.

The therapy programme - B.I.R.D

In a world of uncertainty – I find that nature and birdwatching are a constant source of comfort and solitude. Over the four years that I’ve been developing an interest in birdwatching, I’ve become attuned to my environment, so much so, that I feel a part of it. For me, this is the most profound aspect of any outdoor based activity – we become an element of our surroundings; you could say that we become rooted ourselves. The changing seasons, receding flora and departing birds bring an innate rhythm to life. We are but a small part of nature’s calendar. Joe is currently writing an educational book titled Inside/Outside, which will be published in 2023 by Routledge. The book is a blended emotional literacy and nature connection programme for young people of secondary age. The movements that comprise each exercise are based upon the developmental movements made by all typically developing children within the first few months of life. Hence, patient’s completing treatment are provided with opportunities to pass through ‘normal’ developmental milestones of infantile development, revisiting critical stages of brain development, removing barriers to learning, and enabling developmental progression/rehabilitation.Succeeds – triumphantly – in articulating with great honesty what it is like to suffer with a mental illness, and in providing strategies for coping' Mail on Sunday The exercises work best when done regularly. Families are encouraged to build exercise programmes into their daily routines, performing the exercises at the same time each day, missing very few, if any days of therapy throughout the course of treatment. The exercises are repetitive in nature and it is not uncommon for families to experience issues relating to co-operation. Rewards are often necessary to sustain commitment to the programme. There’s nothing more relaxing than visiting my birdwatching patch – on the heathland side. Wandering out across the spartan landscape, over sand and between broom. The senses are overcome; the coconut scent of yellow gorse flowers, the exalting song of the Skylarks above and the feelings – well they are full of positivity and light. This multi-sensory blanket is one of the things I love so much about birdwatching and the outdoors. I can wrap myself up in being away and protect myself from my worries.

Bird Therapy: On The Healing Effects Of Watching Birds - Forbes

I’m an SEN teacher and have always worked with challenging young people. This truly helps me to relate to what I write about, as do my own experiences growing up – I’m definitely what could be regarded as a ‘working-class writer’. I feel privileged to live and have grown up in the beautiful county of Norfolk, a birdwatching mecca, where reedbeds and grazing marshes are my inspiration. I’ve been writing about Bird Therapy for three years now and in 2017 I had articles published in Birdwatch magazine and The Curlew. I also recorded three ‘tweets of the day’ for BBC Radio 4 and was asked to write guest blogs for the Wildlife Trusts and Mark Avery. I give talks on the topic and have spoken at Cambridge University and Cley Marshes NWT. Fabulously direct and truthful, filled with energy but devoid of self-pity . . . I was impressed and enchanted. Highly recommended' Stephen Fry When Joe Harkness suffered a breakdown in 2013, he tried all the things his doctor recommended: medication helped, counselling was enlightening, and mindfulness grounded him. But nothing came close to nature, particularly birds. How had he never noticed such beauty before? Soon, every avian encounter took him one step closer to accepting who he is.Although I’m a lifelong birder, I was particularly interested to learn how birding develops mindfulness. Birding is a meditative practice that immediately appeals to all your senses -- listening to bird sounds and songs, looking at their plumage colors and patterns, observing their complex and often subtle behaviors, identifying their habits and habitats -- but weirdly, I’d not made this connection between birding and mindfulness before. Joe Harkness has written his Bird Therapy blog for the last three years. His writing has appeared in Birdwatch magazine and in the literary journal, The Curlew, amongst others. Mr. Harkness recorded three ‘ Tweets of the Day’ for BBC Radio 4. He works as a Special Educational Needs Coordinator and has worked with vulnerable groups for nine years. He lives in Norfolk. The positive change in Joe's wellbeing was so profound that he started a blog to record his experience. Three years later he has become a spokesperson for the benefits of birdwatching, spreading the word everywhere from Radio 4 to Downing Street.