Nature Treatment: A Prescription For Vitamin N(ature)

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It’s easy to revel in the arts, food culture, real estate and all the other treasures the Rural Intelligence region offers us. But if there’s one element that trips us up, it’s the fact that when it comes to healthcare, we’re recipients of “rural” medicine. To those who have moved here from cities with some of the best medical facilities in the world, that can be a hard pill to swallow.

On the other hand, could there be any more perfect place in the entire country (okay, so we’re prejudiced, but hear us out) to embrace the Park RX movement? It’s a national organization of health practitioners advancing the use of parks and public lands to improve health and wellness. Think walks, hikes, campfires and “bathing” in the forest.

A local practitioner is pulling from that concept to bring a similar program here. Eric Krawczyk’s Nature Treatment is a program in collaboration with healthcare providers, land managers and community partners that offers a natural alternative to medicine.

“In my line of work over the decades, I’ve seen the benefits of time outside playing, hiking, enjoying nature — something our county has a lot of,” says Krawczyk, a licensed mental health counselor and certified Forest Therapy Guide in Great Barrington,