The Natural Health Service: How Nature Can Mend Your Mind

(Paperback, Main)

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'Brilliant' - Matt Haig

In 2016, Isabel Hardman's mind, in her own words, 'stopped working' as she fell prey to severe depression and anxiety. She took time off on long-term sick leave and despite several relapses has returned to work with a much improved ability to cope. She has since become one of the UK's most prominent public voices on mental health.

She credits her better health to her passion for exercise, nature and the great outdoors - from horse-riding and botany to cold-water swimming and running. In The Natural Health Service, she draws on her own personal experience, interviews with mental illness sufferers and psychologists, and the latest research to examine what role wildlife and exercise can play in helping anyone cope with mental illness. Straight-talking, thoroughly-researched, and compassionate, this important and often funny book will fascinate anyone touched by a mental health condition, whether themselves or through the experiences of a loved-one.

Reviews

Brilliant, clear-eyed and convincing. * Matt Haig *
An impassioned case for integrating nature and outdoor exercise into mental health treatment. * New Statesman *
A wise, compassionate, timely and beautifully written book. Isabel is formidably brave and open about her health struggles. * Andrew Marr *
A manifesto that, right now, feels sorely needed. * The Times *

A remarkable, fact-packed, warm and important book. If you're after an honest, no-bullshit, un-woowoo blueprint
about how to improve your mental health through engaging with the natural world, this is for you.

* India Knight *
Robustly argued... Elation comes in many forms: an unexpected orchid in a Glasgow car park, a shy kingfisher by the Thames, and Penny Black, a headstrong pony in Wimbledon. * Kate Kellaway, Observer *
[Hardman] argues a passionate and persuasive case that a closer connection with nature would be good for us all. * Daily Mail *
A vigorous case for nature as the great healer we have overlooked. * Financial Times *
Hardman is a precise, lucid writer, never afraid to offer well-argued opinion but always careful to delineate it from factual reporting... The Natural Health Service is rich in interesting and unusual details. * The Critic *
A compelling and passionately argued case that healthy bodies and minds need nature. * The Lancet *
A really uplifting book. Amid the vivid depictions of depression and PTSD there is a joy in these pages as Isabel explains what the natural world has given to her, and can give to all of us. Hardman shows there is so much we can do to help ourselves just by looking at the world around us, exploring and enjoying its beauty, variety, life-giving, life-enhancing, mood-changing power. * Alastair Campbell *
Brave and thoroughly researched. * Bella Mackie, author of Jog On *
Extraordinary. I wish everyone with a mental illness, and all those supporting them, would read this book. I believe it could help to revolutionise the way we think about, and even treat, mental health issues. * Jonny Benjamin MBE *
Absorbing and life-affirming... Isabel's journey of discovery through her own mental illness contains lessons for us all. Simply a must read. * Rachel Cullen, author of Running For My Life *

Author Bio

Isabel Hardman is a journalist, author, and broadcaster. She is Assistant Editor of the Spectator and presents Week in Westminster on BBC Radio 4. In 2015, she was named Journalist of the Year at the Political Studies Association's annual awards. She is the author of the bestseller Why We Get the Wrong Politicians which won at the 2018 Parliamentary Book Awards and was shortlisted for Waterstones Book of the Year. She is a prominent campaigner on mental health and lives in London.