Highlands in Bloom is a licensed residential treatment center in Agoura Hills, California. Our clinical program is developed and overseen by Clinical Program Director Stacy McNeal, PhD, LMFT and Medical Director and Psychiatrist Dr. Todd Hill. Ecotherapy is a certified and licensed clinical modality integrated into the residential treatment program at Highlands in Bloom, utilizing the natural environment of our Agoura Hills property as a direct and intentional therapeutic tool for mental health and autoimmune recovery.
What Is Ecotherapy?
Ecotherapy, also known as nature-based therapy or green therapy, is a clinically grounded therapeutic approach that uses intentional engagement with the natural environment as a modality for psychological healing, nervous system regulation, and whole-person wellbeing. Rooted in ecopsychology and supported by a growing evidence base in clinical psychology and environmental health research, ecotherapy operates on the premise that human beings have a fundamental biological connection to the natural world and that restoring that connection is clinically relevant to mental and physical health.
Ecotherapy encompasses a range of nature-based practices including guided walks in natural settings, therapeutic gardening, mindfulness in outdoor environments, and somatic practices that integrate the sensory experience of nature into the clinical therapeutic process. At Highlands in Bloom, ecotherapy is a certified and licensed clinical offering delivered within the structured residential treatment program rather than as an informal outdoor activity.
The Evidence Base for Ecotherapy
The clinical evidence for the therapeutic effects of nature exposure has grown substantially over the past two decades. Research consistently demonstrates that time in natural environments produces measurable reductions in cortisol, lowers heart rate and blood pressure, reduces sympathetic nervous system activation, improves mood and cognitive function, and produces reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms that are comparable in some studies to structured psychotherapeutic interventions.
Shinrin-yoku, or forest bathing, developed in Japan and now extensively studied in Western research, demonstrates that even brief periods of intentional nature immersion produce significant physiological and psychological benefits through multiple mechanisms including phytoncide inhalation, visual engagement with natural fractals, microbiome contact through soil and plants, and the restorative attentional effects of natural environments that reduce the directed attention fatigue associated with chronic stress and burnout.
For clients managing autoimmune conditions, research documents that nature exposure reduces inflammatory markers including C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, modulates cortisol and HPA axis activity, and supports the immune regulation that is directly relevant to autoimmune disease management. The mechanisms include both direct physiological effects of the natural environment and the reduction of the chronic psychological stress burden that drives autoimmune inflammatory activity.
Ecotherapy and Mental Health
Ecotherapy addresses mental health through multiple intersecting pathways that complement the cognitive and verbal therapeutic work happening in individual therapy, group programming, and evidence-based modalities throughout the residential program.
For clients managing anxiety and burnout, nature immersion directly counteracts the directed attention depletion and sensory overload that sustain hyperarousal and cognitive exhaustion. The restorative attention theory, developed by Rachel and Stephen Kaplan, proposes that natural environments engage involuntary fascination rather than directed attention, allowing the depleted attentional and stress regulation systems to rest and recover. For high-functioning clients who have been managing chronic overactivation for years, regular ecotherapy provides a physiological and psychological reset that is difficult to achieve in the built environment.
For clients managing depression, hopelessness, and disconnection, the natural environment provides a consistent source of awe, beauty, and evidence of natural cycles of growth and renewal that can shift perspective in ways that verbal therapy cannot always reach. Therapeutic gardening in particular connects clients to the experience of nurturing living things and witnessing growth over time, a direct and tangible counter to the contracted worldview of depression.
For clients managing PTSD and complex trauma, nature-based somatic practices offer a body-level regulation pathway that bypasses the verbal and cognitive processing demands that can be overwhelming in the early stages of trauma treatment. The sensory richness of the natural environment, the sounds, textures, temperatures, and smells of the outdoor space, provides grounding anchors for present-moment awareness that support the physiological regulation needed for trauma processing work.
Ecotherapy and Autoimmune Conditions
The relationship between nature exposure and autoimmune health is clinically meaningful through several documented mechanisms. Chronic psychological stress is one of the primary drivers of autoimmune inflammatory flares, and ecotherapy directly reduces the stress burden through cortisol modulation, parasympathetic activation, and HPA axis regulation. For clients managing lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, IBD, MS, and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, reducing the chronic stress load through nature-based therapeutic engagement is a direct contribution to autoimmune disease management.
Soil microbiome contact through therapeutic gardening at Highlands in Bloom also has documented immunological significance. Research on the hygiene hypothesis and the old friends hypothesis demonstrates that contact with environmental microorganisms including soil bacteria supports immune regulation and reduces the hyper-reactivity that characterizes autoimmune conditions. The Highlands in Bloom onsite garden, which grows herbs, seasonal vegetables, and flowers used in the kitchen and throughout the residential program, provides an opportunity and meaningful context for this beneficial environmental microbiome contact.
Ecotherapy at Highlands in Bloom
Ecotherapy at Highlands in Bloom is delivered as a certified and licensed clinical modality integrated throughout the daily and weekly residential schedule. The Agoura Hills property provides direct access to the natural landscape that makes ecotherapy a genuine and immersive clinical experience rather than a token outdoor activity.
The onsite garden is the primary ecotherapy environment, providing a living therapeutic space where clients can engage in therapeutic gardening, mindfulness practice in a natural setting, and direct contact with the seasonal cycles of growth and harvest. The garden grows herbs including lemongrass, thyme, rosemary, mint, and basil alongside seasonal vegetables and flowers, all of which feed directly into the kitchen and into the daily aesthetic and sensory environment of the residential program.
Direct access to hiking trails in the natural landscape surrounding the Agoura Hills property supports guided therapeutic walks that integrate mindfulness, somatic awareness, and nature-based regulation practices in a clinical framework. Morning movement and ecotherapy practices are frequently combined as the opening structure of the residential day, setting a regulated nervous system baseline for the clinical programming that follows.
Ecotherapy sessions are facilitated by clinically trained staff within the structured residential framework and coordinated with Clinical Program Director Stacy McNeal, PhD, LMFT to ensure that nature-based therapeutic work is integrated appropriately with each clients individualized treatment plan and the clinical therapeutic work happening in parallel.
Conditions Ecotherapy Addresses at Highlands in Bloom
Ecotherapy at Highlands in Bloom is clinically indicated for a range of conditions including:
- Anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety, and high-functioning anxiety where nature immersion directly counteracts attentional depletion and sympathetic hyperarousal
- Depression and hopelessness where the natural environment provides restorative engagement and evidence of cyclical renewal
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and complex trauma where nature-based somatic practices support regulation without verbal processing demands
- Burnout and chronic stress where the restorative effects of natural environments support recovery from directed attention fatigue and adrenal depletion
- Autoimmune conditions including lupus, fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis, IBD, MS, and Hashimoto’s where cortisol reduction and immune regulation through nature exposure directly support disease management
- Sleep difficulties and circadian disruption where morning outdoor light exposure and natural environment engagement support healthy sleep-wake cycle regulation
- Disconnection, hopelessness, and loss of meaning where engagement with the natural world and therapeutic gardening restore a sense of participation in living systems
FAQs
What is ecotherapy?
Ecotherapy is a certified and licensed clinical approach that uses intentional engagement with the natural environment as a therapeutic tool for psychological healing, nervous system regulation, and whole-person wellbeing. It encompasses therapeutic gardening, guided nature walks, mindfulness in natural settings, and somatic practices that integrate the sensory experience of nature into the clinical therapeutic process.
Is ecotherapy evidence-based?
Yes. Ecotherapy has a growing and robust evidence base demonstrating its effects on cortisol reduction, mood improvement, anxiety reduction, inflammatory marker reduction, and cognitive restoration. Research on shinrin-yoku, therapeutic gardening, and nature-based interventions consistently documents clinically meaningful physiological and psychological benefits that complement and enhance structured psychotherapeutic treatment.
How does ecotherapy support autoimmune conditions?
Ecotherapy supports autoimmune condition management through cortisol and HPA axis modulation that reduces the chronic stress burden driving inflammatory flares, immune regulation through environmental microbiome contact during therapeutic gardening, parasympathetic activation that counteracts the sympathetic nervous system dysregulation sustaining inflammatory activity, and reduction of the psychological stress and emotional burden that worsens autoimmune disease activity.
Does Highlands in Bloom offer certified ecotherapy?
Yes. Ecotherapy at Highlands in Bloom is a certified and licensed clinical modality integrated throughout the residential treatment program. Sessions are facilitated by clinically trained staff and coordinated with the clinical team under the oversight of Clinical Program Director Stacy McNeal, PhD, LMFT. The onsite garden, hiking trails, and natural Agoura Hills property provide the primary ecotherapy environments.
Is ecotherapy the same as outdoor recreation?
No. Ecotherapy is a clinically structured and intentional therapeutic approach that uses the natural environment as a specific therapeutic tool, distinct from recreational outdoor activity. At Highlands in Bloom, ecotherapy sessions are facilitated by trained clinical staff within a structured framework designed to achieve specific clinical goals including nervous system regulation, trauma grounding, mood restoration, and autoimmune stress reduction.
Can ecotherapy help with depression and hopelessness?
Yes. Research on nature-based interventions and depression consistently documents meaningful improvements in mood, reduced hopelessness, and restoration of engagement and interest in living through nature immersion. The natural environment provides evidence of cyclical renewal, growth, and vitality that can shift the contracted worldview of depression in ways that complement the cognitive and emotional work happening in individual therapy and group clinical programming.
What conditions does ecotherapy help with at Highlands in Bloom?
Ecotherapy at Highlands in Bloom supports clients managing anxiety, depression, PTSD, burnout, hopelessness, sleep difficulties, autoimmune conditions including lupus, fibromyalgia, MS, rheumatoid arthritis, IBD, and Hashimoto’s, and the disconnection and loss of meaning that frequently accompanies both mental health disorders and chronic illness.
How does ecotherapy fit into the overall residential program?
Ecotherapy is integrated throughout the daily residential schedule as a complement to licensed clinical therapies including CBT, DBT, EMDR, and individual therapy. It is not an add-on or optional activity but a clinically intentional component of the whole-person residential treatment model that addresses the dimensions of healing available through the natural environment alongside the cognitive, emotional, and physiological work happening in the broader clinical program.
Take the First Step
Highlands in Bloom accepts clients from across California and the United States. Our admissions team is available daily for a complimentary, confidential clinical consultation. Call us at (805) 892-6313 or visit highlandsinbloom.com/contact. We are in-network with Blue Shield of California and Aetna and accept most major PPO plans.