How nature can help when you're grieving

By Efrem Brynin

Being outdoors creates the perfect environment for people to relax and talk organically about everything that has happened to them and their challenges. 

I’m not an expert, but from my own experience men and women react differently to grief. My wife is happy to get into groups and talk with friends whereas if there was a problem I want to solve it: if the bulb’s gone, I take the bulb out, put a new one in and that’s it, we’re good to go!

Dan Cross and I formed StrongMen, an organisation to help men like ourselves who had been through bereavement and subsequent stresses and health issues. We wanted to share the things that we found helped us - exercise, routine and sharing our feelings with others with similar experiences.

With StrongMen, you’re with a group of strangers and I think that makes things easier because there are no preconceptions about the person you used to be and what’s happened with your loss. So you start with a completely blank canvas – nobody knows you and nobody knows anything about you.

Being outdoors really helps - climbing up a mountain and looking at the scenery, next to one another and not face to face, creates the perfect environment for people to relax and talk organically about everything that has happened to them and their challenges. 

The huge mountains in places like Snowdonia have been there for thousands of years and it takes people away from the  trouble of normal life. There is very seldom a phone signal so there are no interruptions, none of the checking in with people that can stop people being open and honest about their feelings.

Really personal stuff comes out early in the process – the power of nature, it’s like magic.

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