TIERRA Transforming Internal Experiences for Resilience and Restoration through Acceptance
TIERRA is a trauma-informed group-based intervention in nature. It combines third-wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) with nature-based healing practices to foster radical hope. The intervention utilizes a community health worker model to address service gaps and empower the community.
Initial research results from the TIERRA pilot program at Highwood Library and Community Center indicate that the intervention reduced depression and stress, may help with symptoms of anxiety and PTSD, and increased sense of belonging.
TIERRA
In 2023, Brushwood Center published Health, Equity, and Nature: A Changing Climate in Lake County, Illinois. The data gathered revealed that although overburdened communities typically have less access to nature, increased time in it coincided with better health outcomes for those who could access it, especially mental health outcomes.
In response, Brushwood Center collaborated with DePaul University and the Highwood Library and Community Center to devise and pilot a trauma informed group-based intervention in nature called Transforming Internal Experiences for Resilience and Restoration through Acceptance, or TIERRA, for the Latine community in Highwood, Illinois.
Key Elements of TIERRA:
Community-Based Participatory Research
TIERRA is an ongoing Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) project. CBPR is a way of doing research that treats community members as equal partners rather than just subjects of a study. The community and researchers work together from start to finish, ensuring that the research focuses on the real needs of the community and that the solutions created are practical, respectful, and effective.
Cultivating Radical Hope
Radical hope is the dialectic of pain and hope co-existing alongside each other. Within the context of TIERRA, it means acknowledging pain from our individual and collective pasts, as well as our cultural and ancestral strengths and stories, rooting ourselves firmly in the present, and simultaneously dreaming for a brighter collective and individual future.
Healing in Nature
Forest bathing is a research backed nature wellness practice that works to mend the relationships humans have with themselves, the concept of time, their communities, and their environment. It is trauma-informed practice focused on healing and being in reciprocity with nature.
Forest bathing is traditionally offered as a guided experience, where a certified practitioner guides participants through a series of prompts known as “invitations” that focus on being in the present moment by connecting to our senses through nature.
Forest bathing is an intentionally slow and open-ended practice, which means it is able to be adapted to fit the needs of its participants. TIERRA is heavily influenced by the philosophies and values of forest bathing and incorporates many aspects of the practice throughout its structure.
A growing body of research demonstrates that time in nature can reduce emotional distress and anxiety. Even looking at pictures of nature or listening to nature sounds can benefit your mental health. TIERRA encourages participants to connect with nature, themselves, and their community.
TIERRA is grounded in the Healing Ethno And Racial Trauma (HEART) framework and utilizes a community health worker (CHW) model to bridge service gaps and empower the community.
Initial research results from the TIERRA pilot program at the Highwood Library and Community Center indicated that the intervention reduced depression and stress, may help with symptoms of anxiety and PTSD, and increased sense of belonging.
What Participants Say About TIERRA
“I learned more about myself. I also learned how to help my anxiety.“
“It taught me to be more empathetic, and to value the present and diversity. TIERRA keeps my feet on the ground. I feel strong, and I hope that others, too, can experience this strength.“
“I’ve felt more connected; I’ve learned to listen to the sounds of nature, the trees when the wind touches them—the sound is unique. The birds singing, the sound of the lake waves breaking—it’s all calming, there’s something about it that soothes your system, or you… and that’s how I feel connected; it gives me peace.”
“The biggest change I experienced after participating in TIERRA was my connection with nature. I feel more appreciative of nature and seek to be in green areas more often. I’ve incorporated short walks and forest bathing before work or during lunch hours.“
“I discovered qualities I didn’t know I had and how to bring them out.”
