World Forum on Forest Therapy 2024

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Dr. Nevin J. Harper is a Canadian scholar and educator specializing in outdoor learning, nature-based therapy, and adventure education. A professor at the University of Victoria, he blends academic research with hands-on experience in therapy, youth development, and outdoor skills training. His research has reviewed benefits of connecting with nature and he advocates for outdoor practices in the fields of mental health and well-being. Dr. Harper is also a co-author of influential texts in the field and a leading voice in integrating ecological perspectives into therapeutic practices.

Andreas Niepel is a gardener, phytotherapist, systemic coach, registered GardentherapistIGGT and, since 1992, head of the garden/horticultural therapy department at the VAMED Klinik Hattingen, a specialist clinic for neurological and neurosurgical rehabilitation.

He also runs a planning and consulting office that has been involved in various therapeutic garden projects in the field of rehabilitation and care over the last 30 years. He has designed and conceived various therapeutic gardens andconcepted their gardentherapeutic concepts.

Together with the oficial Educationcenter oft he german gardeners association he initiated the first German national congress on “Garden & Therapy” in Bad Lippspringe in 2002, and he has been organizing since that time the annual Gardentherapydays.

He published the first German Books on this topic (“Garten und Therapie- Wege zur Barrierefreiheit” ( 2005) , „ Gartentherapie ( 2007) “, Praxisbuch Gartentherapie ( 2009), „praxishandbuch Gartentherapie ( 2012) . In addition to these and other publications, he published “the cc concept” (2029), a psychiatric therapyconcept for people with neurocognitive disorders. In 2023, his new book “wohlfühlgärtnern” was published, which included the transfer of therapeutic gardening to private wellbeing -gardening.

Dr. Melissa Lem is a Vancouver family physician who also works in rural and northern communities within Canada. Director of PaRx, Canada’s national nature prescription program powered by the BC Parks Foundation, and President of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment, she is an internationally recognized leader in the field of nature and health.
As a widely published writer, climate change panellist on CBC Radio's Early Edition, in-house medical columnist for CBC TV Vancouver, and Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of British Columbia, one of her major priorities is knowledge translation. She is currently a co-investigator and advisor on two international nature prescription research projects (PANDA and RESONATE) with total funding of $10M+.
Dr. Lem was the inaugural winner of University College’s Young Alumni of Influence Award at the University of Toronto, recipient of the 2022 Adult Nature Inspiration Award from the Canadian Museum of Nature, a 2021 World Parks Week Ambassador, and sits on the Advisory Committee of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Health and Well-being Specialist Group.

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