Nature for Change
Nature for Change is a community collaboration between Counselors for Change, student leaders, and city leaders who share in the mission to increase mental health awareness and access to valuable resources and care.
Through the placement of informative and student designed plaques placed in city parks and other shared green spaces within communities, visitors can learn about how nature can improve both mental and physical health and the important role protecting nature has on our own well-being. These plaques contain information highlighting the research supported benefits that time spent in nature has on mental health along with a QR code that links people to free mental health hotlines.
This Counselors for Change initiative was launched and made possible by the early work of Jack Byrd, a then senior in high school who proposed the Nature for Change plaques to city leaders equally passionate about their community’s green spaces and mental health. A team of student volunteers worked together to place plaques in city parks throughout Melbourne Beach and Cocoa, Florida. Today, these efforts continue to make positive impacts in communities through the efforts of our student volunteers in collaboration with community leaders. To date, thousands of people have accessed the mental health information and resources found on the QR link and some have reached out with positive feedback about the impact those resources had on their well-being.
Feel free to reach out to us at info@counselorsforchange.org or call 321-821-4410 for more information on how to bring this free, valuable resource to your community.