The Wild Remedy

Emma Mitchell has suffered with depression for 25 years. In 2003, she left the city and began to take walks in the countryside around her new home, photographing, collecting and drawing as she went. Each walk was as medicinal as any talking therapy or pharmaceutical. Emma’s moving and candid account of her year is a powerful testament to how reconnecting with nature may offer some answers to today’s mental health epidemic. While charting her own seasonal highs and lows, she also explains the science behind such changes, calling on new research into such areas as forest bathing and the ways in which our bodies and minds respond to wildlife. Filled with Emma's beautiful drawings, paintings and photography, this is a truly unique book for anyone who has ever felt drawn to nature and wondered about its influence over us.

"Emma's words are profound, her photography is inspiring and her illustrations are exquisite. This book is the literary equivalent of Prozac." —Emma Freud

"Emma's writing is precise, gorgeous and inspiring, and I am delighted to have a whole year's worth of her beautiful artwork. She makes me look more closely, learn more gladly and get outside more." —Amy Liptrot, author, The Outrun

Emma Mitchell is a naturalist, designer-maker, and the author of Making Winter: A Hygge-Inspired Guide to Surviving the Winter Months.