Parks Can Be Places of Healing
The Center for Nature Informed Therapy (CNIT) trains helpers to bring evidence-informed, nature-based mental health care into real-world settings, so more people can access support, even when systems are overwhelmed.
Your support helps turn national attention into real capacity: training, scholarships, and program delivery.
Featured in The Washington Post (Dec 24, 2025)
The Washington Post reported on how Ukraine’s national parks are being used as places of healing, supporting mental well-being during wartime strain, and highlighted CNIT's training that equips helpers to bring nature-informed practices into the work.
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CNIT is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit
Why this matters right now?
The Washington Post spotlighted a growing truth: nature, especially parks, can support mental health and recovery when traditional services can’t meet the moment.
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Need is rising fast. Many communities face high stress, trauma, grief, and burnout, often with limited access to care.
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Parks are stepping in. Outdoor spaces can become practical, accessible settings for regulation, resilience, and reconnection.
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Momentum is real, but funding is the bottleneck. Programs often depend on training, staffing, and sustainable support to keep going.
Where CNIT Comes In
CNIT equips mental health professionals and community helpers with practical, trauma-informed ways to integrate nature into care and community wellness. Our work includes training and support for helpers working in and alongside parks—so the people who serve others have tools that are grounded, evidence-informed, and usable in the real world.
Turn Coverage into Capacity
Your donation helps CNIT train more helpers, provide scholarships, and bring nature-informed support to the places people already turn to, like parks.
$50
Helps provide materials and practical tools for one trainee/helper
$1,000
Funds a full scholarship to CNIT’s Foundational Training.
$15,000
Designs and launches a Therapeutic Pathway
at a partner park or garden.
Want to Support at an Organizational Level?
If you represent a foundation, business, park system, school, hospital, or community organization, we’d love to explore partnership. Sponsorship accelerates training and helps scale nature-informed mental health support responsibly.
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Help underwrite a nature-based “therapeutic pathway”, a guided route with prompts and practices that support grounding, stress regulation, and reflection. CNIT helps design the experience, train facilitators when needed, and provide simple evaluation so the pathway is more than signage, it’s a supportive resource the community can actually use.
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Co-branded on-site recognition (where appropriate)
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Quarterly impact note (use + stories)
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Option to pair with an Employee Well-Being Day or clinician training
Stay in the loop
Quick Questions:
Is my donation tax-deductible?
Yes. CNIT is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Please keep your PayPal receipt for your records.
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Can I donate if I don’t have a PayPal account?
Yes. PayPal typically allows giving via credit/debit card even without an account.
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What does “Nature-Informed Care” mean?
It means using evidence-informed practices that intentionally include nature (directly or indirectly) to support regulation, resilience, meaning-making, and wellbeing.
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How does CNIT measure impact?
We use pre/post feedback and outcomes-focused evaluation to improve training quality and understand what’s most helpful across settings.
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How can my organization partner with CNIT?
Use the partnership form above, and we’ll set up a short call to explore sponsorship, hosting a training, or tailored programming.