Guest article by Susana Filipa Ribeiro
In a world where connection is often reduced to video calls and team-building means awkward icebreakers, Susana Filipa Ribeiro brings a refreshingly grounded perspective. As a certified Forest Mind® Instructor and experienced facilitator in human development, Susana helps individuals and teams reconnect — not just with each other, but with themselves and the natural world around them. In this guest article, she explores how nature-based practices can unlock deeper trust, empathy, and psychological safety at work.
The Need for Something Deeper
Let’s be honest: most team-building activities feel forced.
The icebreakers, the silly games, the artificial bonding… they rarely lead to deeper trust or meaningful change.
Yet in today’s world of rising stress, remote fatigue, and miscommunication, teams desperately need more connection, empathy, and psychological safety.
What if the answer isn’t a ‘day out’ or playing a game?
What if it’s right outside? In nature?
The Problem: Disconnected Teams, Superficial Solutions
Research shows that employee Wellbeing and team performance are deeply linked to:
- Psychological safety
- Trust and open communication
- Shared vulnerability and reflection
Yet most workplaces treat these human needs with surface-level interventions:
- A half-day workshop with sticky notes
- A gamified activity that doesn’t resonate
- A resilience lecture no one remembers
These approaches often lack the embodied, reflective, and emotionally safe space that teams truly need to reconnect.
Meanwhile, psychosocial risks — from burnout to team conflict — are rising globally. According to the WHO (2022),
poor mental health costs the world economy over $1 trillion USD per year in lost productivity.
We need deeper, more experiential human-centred practices.
Forest Mind® Changes the Approach
Developed in Finland by Sirpa Arvonen, Forest Mind® is not just a walk in the woods.
It’s a structured, science-informed practice that combines Nature, Mindfulness, Positive Psychology, and Coaching tools — all aimed at nurturing mental clarity, emotional awareness, and authentic human connection.
It was created to intensify the natural healing effects of the forest through simple but powerful mental exercises. And it works — not just for individuals, but for teams navigating stress, conflict, or the need to realign.
What makes it different from traditional team building?
- No games.
- No artificial “trust falls.”
- No pressure to perform.
Instead, Forest Mind® invites teams to pause, reflect, and reconnect — with themselves, each other, and the natural world around them.
Based on evidence from cognitive behavioural psychology, nature therapy, and mindfulness practices, it supports:
- Mental & emotional regulation
- Self-awareness and inner clarity
- Social and interpersonal wellbeing
- Resilience in challenging times
Teams engage in carefully designed exercises that follow three progressive levels:
- Activate the senses – grounding the body and quieting the mind
- Observe internal experience – thoughts, emotions, and reactions with curiosity
- Explore deeper meaning – values, direction, and inner resources as a group
These practices are accessible and adaptable to any outdoor space — or even indoors through guided visualizations or nature-based imagery.
The approach goes beyond traditional Forest Bathing by including this third level of structured reflection and mental skills training — helping individuals and teams build greater self-awareness, clarity, and alignment.
The Impact and Opportunity
Science shows that even short moments in nature create real change:
- 10 minutes – Lowers blood pressure and stress hormones
- 20 minutes – Boosts mood and emotional stability
- 60 minutes – Improves attention and focus
- 2 hours – Activates the body’s defence mechanisms
- 5 hours/month – Increases positive emotions and mental well-being
- 3 days outdoors
- Strengthens the immune system
- Regulates blood sugar and blood pressure
- Increases vitality and optimism
- Decreases depression, tiredness, and stress markers
These aren’t just wellness perks — they’re physiological shifts that affect how people show up at work, how teams interact, and how decisions are made.
“Nature becomes the facilitator. The method becomes a mirror. And the conversation becomes real.”
By slowing down and stepping outside the walls (literally and emotionally), teams tap into something deeper: a shared human experience that builds empathy, trust, and psychological safety — not through theory, but through presence.
And that’s the shift we need.
What Teams Can Gain
- More clarity and emotional balance
- Improved communication – especially after conflict or stress
- Deeper trust and cohesion
- Stronger engagement – because people feel seen, heard, and supported
It’s a way to bring Wellbeing, Empathy, and Psychological Safety to life — not in theory, but in experience.
Conclusion: What If the Forest Was Your Best Facilitator?
We often overcomplicate what teams need to thrive.
When stress is high and connection is low…
- The answer might not be more talking — but more listening.
- Not more doing — but more being.
- Not more games — but more presence.
So next time your team needs alignment or renewal…
Skip the trust falls.
Go outside. Be still. Listen. And let the forest do its work.
Because, in the end, it’s all about people.