Grieving Outdoors

 Mollie Taylor wrote and said that she was interviewing people for her nature and grief podcasts, and would I like to do one? 

You can listen to our podcast at this link:https://open.spotify.com/episode/28WZdhyIg6xkFobXFwqrmv

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Mollie Taylor works with the Parks and Bereavement Services in Bournemouth, England, on the south coast of England, which I think is a tremendously insightful pairing because nature is where I found solace after my wife Evelyn died. 

 

She began the bereavement group at the Hengistbury Head nature reserve, and meets weekly with those who are grieving, taking them into nature to experience its benefits. She helps them identify plants and animals, works with them on projects that benefit wildlife (like building bird houses), and provides social time for interaction. When the pandemic began restricting their gatherings, she looked for more ways of sharing content with her group, and came up with the idea of doing podcasts of interviews with people who understood the therapeutic benefits of being in nature while grieving.

 

Her interest in this began when her grandmother passed suddenly when she was an undergrad at university. Mollie lost her footing for a time, and found that going into nature helped her piece life back together. For her masters’ dissertation in Biodiversity Conservation, she focused on the benefits of nature for the grieving. 

 

Mollie has also written several articles for the Institute for Cemeteries and Crematorium Management about the relationship between nature and cemeteries, and found that the general public favored cemeteries that had the most wildlife over those that had less, as well as over nearby greenspaces. She proposed that they encourage more wildlife to be present in cemeteries by creating habitats, and forming community-based groups to maintain them. 

 

I am guessing that English cemeteries, in general, look different than the cemeteries I’m familiar with in the States. A photo I saw of a cemetery in Bournemouth had quite a few trees, bushes, and benches to sit on. It looked more rustic and slightly untamed. Our cemeteries are generally flat, or on gently rolling hills, with large expanses of mowed grass and a few trees, similar to the look of a golf course, but without the sand traps or places to sit. If we have woods, they are kept outside the boundaries of the cemetery. There are exceptions, of course, like neglected, rural cemeteries that are overgrown with vegetation.

 

Generally, we go to cemeteries only if we know someone who is buried there, to honor and grieve them. Cemeteries offer us a quiet place to reflect on how life continues to change. Some of us also go for the history, and we get a thrill by standing at the graves of famous leaders, authors, and musicians. I’ve not heard of anyone here going to a cemetery for the wildlife.

 

A survey of more than 26,000 adults in Europe found that the number of bird species in a person’s surroundings correlated to their level of happiness. The happiest Europeans were those who experienced numerous bird species in their daily life. It’s easy to lose touch with nature in our concrete cities. If cemeteries are our largest green areas, why not invite wildlife in, especially birds, and provide them a place of refuge?

 

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(related link: Nature and Grief - https://widowersgrief.blogspot.com/2020/12/nature-and-grief.html)