The area might not be overburdened with traditional mental health resources, but in one sense it is richer than most.
Franklin County and the North Quabbin border region have as much or more forests, hills, lakes, rivers and wild spaces as anywhere in the state. If you want to take a walk in the woods, you’re never more than a few miles away from doing so, and that has more benefits than the obvious fitness boost.
“It just makes you feel good, it’s hard to describe what the benefit really is, but your mind’s more alive, you’re feeling better and even though we didn’t have a real severe winter it felt like a long one, and it’s just great to get out now and breathe some fresh air,” said Athol resident David Small on a day last week. President of the Athol Bird and Nature Club, Small said he spent a good part of the sunny morning outdoors.
A growing body of research delves into why time in the woods makes people feel good, and paints nature as a kind of mental health therapy.
“We know there’s all these benefits to movement, but there’s also lots of mental health benefits to being in proximity to green space, being unplugged and kind of the understanding that nature is bigger than you,” said Heather Bialecki-Canning, executive director of the North Quabbin Community Coalition.
The nonprofit agency has a broad mission to improve the quality of life in the region, and works to do so through task forces targeting the mental, physical and financial health of residents.
Bialecki-Canning said studies released since 2006 have tied time outdoors to reductions in toxic stress, tension, headaches, depression and anxiety.
That has spurred the Community Coalition’s various task forces to look outside to take advantage of one resource that isn’t in short supply here.
“It ties into so much of the work that we’re doing, because we know for all of the things that North Quabbin gets a bad rep for, we have really awesome stuff going on, and one of the best things we have out here is this beautiful natural resource in the region we live in, so we just really try to tie back to that, that people need to relax and take a look around them and try to unplug,” she said.
Then plug in again: Bialecki-Canning said the most effective way to get people outside is through word of mouth; went hiking in the Quabbin or swimming in Lake Mattawa? Put it on social media and others are more likely to follow suit, spreading the benefits.
The coalition works this knowledge into its youth health efforts, with the understanding that getting children outside means their parents will pick up the habit also. They will also use the outdoors as they begin a cooperative program with Heywood Healthcare next month called the Enjoy Life Community, a program originally focused on suicide prevention that has broadened to include encouraging people to enjoy their community.
A 2015 study led by Stanford found that 90 minutes walking in a natural area decreased brain activity associated with depression. The same was not true for the comparison group, who took their walk along a busy road.
A review of literature on the topic of restorative environments by David G. Pearson and Tony Craig in Frontiers in Psychology cites five studies from 2009 to 2014 as growing evidence to suggest that exposure to natural environments can be associated with mental health benefits. The 2014 paper also calls for more research, suggesting that urban environments can be similarly restorative. The authors cite a study finding that scenes containing water drew the same positive response whether in nature, or in urban environments.
Water, of course, is another thing the North Quabbin has in spades: the 39-square-mile Quabbin Reservoir. Maybe it doesn’t matter that it’s man-made and covers a handful of former urban environments.
The North Quabbin Community Coalition encourages people to get outside, maintaining an online community calendar that includes regular nature and outdoors events, plus a separate North Quabbin Woods website.
The site, northquabbinwoods.org, hosts information on places to bike, swim, paddle and hike in the area, while keeping up the local economics end with a list of businesses and artisans.
The Athol Bird and Nature Club has its own website, at atholbirdclub.org, which Small said is full of free activities focused on birds this time of year. “The month of May is one of the best times of the year for us,” he said. “The spring birds come back and butterflies emerge and dragonflies start. It’s kind of an exciting time to watch the spring unfold.”
There are ample opportunities in the area to watch the spring unfold, with expert guidance or solo.
Standing in the middle of Greenfield’s Main Street, you’re only a mile from Temple Woods (or Highland Park, whichever name you prefer). At the Athol Town Hall, you’re half a mile from conservation land on the banks of the Millers River and a 12-minute drive from the sprawling Bears Den Forest Conservation Area.
You can reach Chris Curtis at: ccurtis@recorder.com