Reconnecting Business Wellbeing with Nature

How do you find light at the end of the tunnel?

It's time we start talking honestly about nature-based solutions and what they mean for the world of work. Wellbeing strategies are often box-ticking exercises. Fruit bowls, yoga sessions, another webinar about resilience. They help, but they're not the full story.

What if the real answer lies outside the office? What if the solutions are literally growing around us?

Through my partnerships, I see one thing again and again. When people reconnect with nature, they start to breathe again. Stress goes down. Creativity comes up. Perspective shifts. That's where wellbeing truly begins.

Nature is central to wellbeing

Nature isn't a backdrop. It's a partner in performance, a teacher in resilience, and a healer when burnout hits. Living walls, rooftop gardens, wildflower corridors, outdoor classrooms. These aren't luxuries. They're living systems that support our physical and mental health.

Some of the most inspiring examples I've seen come from organisations that have embedded green thinking. Offices with vertical forests that clean the air and cool buildings naturally. Teams reconnecting through biodiversity projects and outdoor experiences. Schools creating learning environments that allow staff and students to reset.

These projects do more than make people feel better. They save energy. They reduce emissions. They show a new model of leadership.

What Japan and Sweden already know

Japan got serious about this in 1982. When 23% of companies had employees doing over 80 hours of overtime monthly and stress levels hit crisis point, they introduced Shinrin-yoku-forest bathing-as a national health programme. Not as a wellness fad. As medicine.

The results? Studies across 24 forests showed reduced blood pressure, lower cortisol, stronger immune function, and measurable improvements in mental health. Even 20-30 minutes made a difference. They didn't just research it. They built hundreds of certified forest therapy trails for workers to access during the workday. They established the Japanese Society of Forest Medicine in 2007. This is prevention embedded into culture.

Sweden built it into their DNA. Friluftsliv-open-air living-isn't occasional nature tourism. It's daily life. One-third of Swedes are outdoors at least once a week. Businesses offer time off for hiking, biking, running. Some get tax breaks for promoting it. Over 53% exercise for at least two-and-a-half hours weekly. They hold meetings outside as standard practice.

The result? Sweden consistently ranks top for work-life balance. They've recognised what we're only just catching on to. We're not designed to be in buildings for hours on end. That's why things are breaking.

The UK is catching up, and the numbers are powerful

The NHS has pioneered Green Social Prescribing as a formal healthcare intervention. Between April 2021 and March 2023, over 8,500 people were referred to nature-based activities. The results exceeded expectations.

Happiness increased from 5.3 out of 10 to 7.5. Life satisfaction rose from 4.7 to 6.8. Anxiety levels improved significantly. For every £1 invested, the programme generated up to £2.42 in social return. At £507 per participant, it proved more cost-effective than CBT and other traditional interventions. One study suggested that if scaled nationally, green prescribing could save the NHS approximately £635.6 million annually.

UK organisations are moving beyond token gestures. Living walls and rooftop gardens in new builds. Outdoor meetings reducing sick leave by 23%. Nature-based team building replacing tired corporate activities. It's happening. Natural England's 2024-2025 Action Plan is prioritising nature recovery in urban areas and integrating green social prescribing with NHS plans.

Consistency is everything

I've been saying this since I created my coaching and Green Solutions group. Wellness initiatives that are nature-based have to be embedded. That means in policy, in procedure, and in our everyday approach.

You can't expect change from a one-off training. Breaking old habits takes 21 days. Forming new ones can take between 63 and 66 days. The practices have to become daily, habitual, part of the rhythm of work.

We're in burnout now. We need to prevent more of the cogs from stopping so we can be more productive and feel well. I know what burnout feels like ...We have to reconnect with ourselves by creating these green goals within our workspaces. To fix what's breaking, we must put these initiatives in place. It's as simple as that.

Natural capital, our true GDP

We talk endlessly about economic growth, but when was the last time we asked about the GDP of natural capital? The soil, the forests, the oceans, the pollinators. These are the systems that hold everything else up.

Without them, there is no economy. There is no wellbeing. There is no future business to plan for.

Natural capital is our security. Yet we deplete it as if it's infinite. While many focus on products and technologies, the real long-term strategy is right beneath our feet. If we managed natural capital with the same care we manage financial capital, the world would be far more stable.

Collaboration over competition

I love opportunity. I thrive on it. But ambition doesn't have to mean greed. People are struggling. Businesses are struggling. Why can we not sit together, collaborate, and find ways to create green growth that benefits everyone?

We need to stop the gatekeeping of ideas, the competitive posturing, and the constant fight over who gets credit. There's so much knowledge and innovation waiting to be shared. The real win comes when every organisation and community grows stronger together.

Controlling the controllables

We cannot control everything, but we can control how we prepare for what's next. We can design workplaces that heal rather than drain. We can invest in renewable energy, rethink supply chains, and protect the ecosystems that sustain us.

Resilience isn't a trending word...

It's the quiet strength that comes from being grounded in something real.

As life continues to shift at pace, let's not lose sight of what matters most. The health of our people and the health of our planet are intertwined. They always have been. The sooner we act like it, the stronger we all become.