In 2017, a clinical social worker named Carolyn Schuyler founded a nonprofit on 28 acres of donated land in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountain and – with the help of volunteers – began building an outdoor playscape -- a place where kids could discover nature.
“The goal of Wildrock was to create space where children could have a free-roaming experience in nature and have the kinds of experiences that grow nature connectedness and are so good for child development. There are enough known elements like a little playhouse or a sand area, that children kind of know what to do, but then there are some things that may be new to children. Like there’s a wading stream, and there are many children in our area that have never had the chance to put their feet in a stream.”
She was inspired by a school of thought known as ecotherapy.
“The founders of ecotherapy really felt it was necessary to have a revolution in how we think about our relationship with the natural world – that the way that we currently think about nature as being separate somehow and less than and something that we can extract from without worrying about ever depleting it is so misguided and has a mental health cost for all of us.”
Today, Wildrock serves about 12,000 people a year. Schuyler is excited to watch children as their relationship to the natural world blooms.
“Some of the most moving moments for me are when children get off the bus, and they’re just really scared. It’s so expansive. There are very big, long distances you can look, large mountains they’ve never seen before. It’s just a bit intimidating.”
And no wonder.
“There are a lot of scary movies of people being stuck on mountains or attacked by wolves or things that are very unlikely to happen, but for a lot of children they just have not had enough time to be in natural spaces. They may only know playgrounds with mulch floors and rubber mats, and they haven’t really had a chance on their own terms explore and play in natural areas.”
And soon enough, she says, they’re wading in the stream, checking under rocks for crayfish, finding ways to play with sand and rocks and twigs. Teachers and parents take note.
“Even the parents remember --when they see their children delighted and playing – how much we need this at all ages.”
She adds that Wildrock is serving as a model for other parts of Virginia.
“I’ve been involved in Louisa County where they now have two playscapes, and that was one of the goals of Wildrock was to be a demonstration site. People could go and say, ‘This isn’t so far out. We could do this in our neighborhood. We could do this in the school yard,’" she says. "Just in the last ten years I would say that it’s really starting to become more common and parks and recreation departments across the country are starting to prioritize natural play areas over the traditional metal equipment. That’s really the message of my book is that we all. have a role to play in creating the activities and spaces that allow us to build relationships with nature that are necessary for our mental health and for caring for the earth.”
The book is Everyday Ecotherapy— an exploration of how to enhance our emotional connection to nature and to bring more of it into our lives.
“It’s a noticing habit that we need to develop. It’s so easy to be distracted. A lot of us are multi-tasking all the time – even if it’s just in our heads. It’s finding a way to – even if it’s just for a few minutes -- to stop and look around you – stopping to smell the roses and really giving yourself a moment to listen to bird song and maybe to feel the texture of bark, and maybe if you’re lucky to actually taste. Maybe there’s a blackberry you get to pick.”
Schuyler says it’s not necessary to hike or camp in the wilderness. It’s enough to have a little garden on an urban balcony, to notice dandelions sprouting from cracks in concrete, to play birdsong on a computer or phone and to post pictures of nature in the places where we get medical care, study, live and work.
Carolyn Schuyler will speak at an event at New Dominion Bookshop in Charlottesville on Friday, October 9 at 7:00 pm.
