Finding Healing in the Outdoors: Women, Mental Health, and the Power of Nature

By: Ashley Holm

Let’s be real for a second: being a woman today feels a little like juggling flaming chainsaws while walking a tightrope… in heels… during a windstorm. Between work, family, expectations, and whatever curveball life decides to throw next, it’s no wonder mental health has finally become a real conversation instead of something whispered about.

Therapy? Great. Medication? Also great. But some of the most powerful healing on this planet doesn’t come from a bottle or an office. It comes from dirt, trees, water, and wide-open spaces. The outdoors has been quietly healing people long before the term “mental health” ever became a buzzword.

The Connection Between Mental Health and the Outdoors

You don’t need a scientific journal to tell you that breathing fresh air or listening to wind in the trees feels good, but turns out, the research agrees. Being outside can lower stress, ease anxiety, improve sleep, and help knock the edge off depression.

For women, especially, who tend to carry a whole lot of invisible weight, nature gives us a place to stop, breathe, and recalibrate. Hunting, hiking, fishing, simply walking through the woods; these things reconnect us with the world and with parts of ourselves we tend to lose in the chaos.

Green spaces build resilience. Stillness brings clarity. Even a slow walk under a tree canopy can feel like your brain finally hits the reset button. The outdoors isn’t just adventure; it’s grounding. It’s a personal sanctuary that doesn’t ask for anything in return.

Women Redefining the Outdoor Space

For a long time, outdoor culture was extremely male-dominated. If you weren’t raised in it, you didn’t always feel like you belonged in it. But things are shifting, and they’re shifting fast.

Women aren’t just entering outdoor spaces; we’re shaping them. From grassroots groups to women-led retreats, from mentorship programs to online communities, the outdoor world is becoming more welcoming, more supported, and more empowering than ever.

Organizations like HerUpland, Women of the Wild, and Sisterhood Outdoors are teaching outdoor skills, building confidence, and creating space where women can show up exactly as they are. And let’s not forget the firestorm of women hunters, anglers, hikers, and total badasses on social media who are rewriting the narrative one post at a time.

But beyond all the empowerment and the skills, there’s something deeper happening:
Women are finding themselves out there.

Their strength. Their story. Their voice.

And for one woman in particular, that rediscovery didn’t just change her life - it saved it.

Alexis Shattuck’s Journey

For Alexis Shattuck, the outdoors became more than a hobby; it became a lifeline. Her connection to the wild grew from simple moments to life-changing ones. Through hunting, reflection, heartbreak, and rebuilding, she discovered that nature wasn’t just healing her… it was calling her.

She’s now sharing her story and the lessons she learned in her upcoming book, “30 Proof: 30 Years, 30 Lessons, No Chaser.” It’s raw, it’s honest, and it’s built around the idea that nature has the power to repair pieces of our past in ways we don’t always understand until we’re standing in it.

Her message isn’t just about her journey; it’s about showing others what’s possible when you give yourself room to breathe. 

A Place for Reflection with Lex

“The outdoors isn’t where I disappear; it’s where I come alive. Stepping into the woods used to be an escape, but I’ve come to discover it’s much deeper than that. It’s a proving ground. Out there, I’ve been stripped down, tested, and rebuilt. Some hunts leave you defeated: the early mornings when it’s cold enough to sting, the long sits when nothing shows up, the miles you hike back empty-handed. Your patience is tested, your ego is humbled, and your resilience is demanded. That’s what my book, 30 Proof, is about - learning the hard lessons and finding the strength to carry them with pride.

This book is only a small piece of my mission - the first step. It’s proof that I’ve survived the same struggles others face, and it’s a doorway into the work I’m called to. My calling isn’t only to hunt or to write - it’s to tie the two together. The end goal, as a future Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner, is to integrate the outdoors into mental health care.

I’ve always had a passion for both mental health and nature, but there’s one hunt that made my mission unshakable. I had the opportunity to guide a hunt in Texas for foster children. Sitting in the tree stand beside them, hearing their stories spill out into the stillness of a crisp October morning, I realized that nature wasn’t just giving them an escape from their hard lives. It gave them something deeper: solid ground under their feet, space to breathe, and proof that life is bigger than their pain. Out there, I witnessed how nature reaches the corners of our mind that nothing else can touch.

It doesn’t matter whether you’re holding a rifle, a fishing rod, or nothing at all. The challenge comes from the cold mornings, the miles on your legs, and the silence that forces you to listen. That’s why I want women to embrace these wild spaces - because out there, they’ll find a power no one can take from them.”

Moving Forward

In a world that pushes women to stay busy, stay perfect, stay “on,” nature offers the exact opposite - space. A moment to just be.

For women carrying invisible loads, the outdoors is becoming more than a retreat; it’s a return to themselves. Alexis’ story is proof that healing doesn’t always happen in fluorescent-lit rooms or during scheduled appointments. Sometimes it happens in the stillness of a tree stand, in the hush before sunrise, or on a trail where your only job is to put one foot in front of the other.

As more women claim their place outdoors, they’re not just stepping into the wild; they’re stepping into their power. They’re rewriting what strength looks like. What healing looks like. What belonging looks like.

The wilderness doesn’t promise comfort or convenience. But it does promise something much better: clarity, connection, and courage. And for many women, that’s exactly the kind of medicine they’ve been searching for.

For more details on “30 Proof” by Alexis Shattuck:
Website: alexisshattuck.com
Instagram: @thealexisshattuck