Interview with
Lewis Elliott (WP8)

Who are you and for what partner organisation do you work?
I’m Lewis Elliott, a senior lecturer at the European Centre for Environment and Human Health based at the University of Exeter, UK.

What is your expertise related to nature-based therapy?
I call myself an environmental psychologist and my research has typically examined associations between the natural spaces people live near or spend their leisure time in, and their psychological health and well-being. However, I have a background in health psychology and behaviour change too so RESONATE combines both interests and allows me to explore in much more detail the processes by which nature-based therapy might come to positively impact health and well-being.

Can you describe the Work Package (WP) that you lead in a couple of sentences?
I lead the “what works” work package (WP8) in RESONATE. It aims to uncover the processes by which nature-based therapeutic interventions work (or do not work) for different groups of people. It also looks at the transferability of nature-based therapy programmes; that is, how they can reach more people and be applied in more settings. Lastly, it also looks at future scenarios – how scaling-up nature-based therapy interventions in the future might affect humans in light of other environmental and social change, and the environmental impacts which may come from increased exploitation of these interventions.

What excites you most about the RESONATE project?
Working with such an international team in such a multi-sectoral way! A lot of research in this space previously, while compelling in terms of impacts on mental health, lacked a multi-sectoral vision. With RESONATE, we have the opportunity to solidify a strategy around how nature-based therapy could work across settings, involve users and stakeholders, be sustainable in the longer-term, and resilient to demographic and environmental changes in the future.

What is your own favourite way to engage with nature for your health and wellbeing?
I’m very lucky to live by a prominent surfing beach in the south-west of England. My favourite thing is to spend time with my family splashing around on a warm day, or going on a long coastal walk. We all feel better after a day at the beach together (and not just because of the ice cream)!