Before You StartI tell or imply stories about my exposure to a range of traumas in this book: traumatic childhood experiences, the early death of a parent, cancer, serious mental health issues, implied suicide, missing persons and a car accident. Please go gently if any of these topics are difficult for you. I also include below some numbers for help, but of course you can find similar by googling mental health crisis lines in your country:
Australia
Lifeline www.lifeline.org.au, call 13 11 14 or text 0477 13 11 14
Beyond Blue www.beyondblue.org.au, call 1300 224 636
USA
Mental Health America www.mhanational.org, call or text 988
UK
NHS www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/mental-health-services, call 111
Samaritans www.samaritans.org, call 116 123
Europe
Country-by-country crisis lines are found here: https://www.trystressmanagement.com/mental-health-resources/europes-hotlines/
IntroductionFootnote 1: This forest therapy certification is currently provisional until I can find a gap in my sh!t shows and a suitable location to join a four-day immersion training.
Emergency Mode Footnote 2: My kids laugh at how often I say “this too shall pass”. They laughed even harder and called me “unc” for wanting to get it tattooed onto my skin. Suffice to say, I still say it often but there is no tattoo. Yet.
Footnote 3: Jodie Hampshire, Selina Smyth, Tammie Flinos, and Robert Harris, Lionheart: The Real Life Guide for Adoptive Families (Big Love Family Projects, 2017).
Footnote 4: If this story is of interest to you, I write in far more detail in our book Hampshire et al., Lionheart.
Red Zone Footnote 5: Hampshire et al., Lionheart
Footnote 6: Yafit Levin et al., ‘The Association between Type of Trauma, Level of Exposure and Addiction’, Addictive Behaviors 118 (2021): 106889, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2021.106889.
Footnote 7: Emily A. Holmes et al., ‘Can Playing the Computer Game “Tetris” Reduce the Build-Up of Flashbacks for Trauma? A Proposal from Cognitive Science’, PLOS ONE 4, no. 1 (2009): e4153, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0004153.
Footnote 8: [1] Marie Kanstrup et al., ‘A Guided Single Session Intervention to Reduce Intrusive Memories of Work-Related Trauma: A Randomised Controlled Trial with Healthcare Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic’, BMC Medicine 22, no. 1 (2024): 403, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-024-03569-8.
Footnote 9: See, for example: Suzanna C. Rose et al., ‘Psychological Debriefing for Preventing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)’, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 22 April 2002, CD000560, https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD000560.
Orange Zone Footnote 10: Jodie Hampshire, ‘Almost Ten Years Later, I Wanted to Share in One Place the Years of Advice I’ve given People Supporting a Loved One through Cancer’, LinkedIn, 2023, https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jodiehampshire_cancertreatment-cancersupport-mentalhealth-share-7070234482481516544-vFB2/.
Footnote 11: Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully (Flatiron Books, 2017).
Footnote 12: Edward O. Wilson, Biophilia: The Human Bond with Other Species (Harvard University Press, 2010).
Footnote 13: George MacKerron et al., ‘Mappiness: Natural Environments and in-the-Moment Happiness’, in Handbook on Wellbeing, Happiness and the Environment (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2020), https://doi.org/10.4337/9781788119344.00022.
Footnote 14: ‘Mappiness, the Happiness Mapping App’, accessed 13 August 2026, http://www.mappiness.org.uk/.
Footnote 15: Alex Gesse, ‘Phytoncides and Forest Bathing’, Forest Therapy Hub, 18 September 2024, https://foresttherapyhub.com/phytoncides-and-forest-bathing/.
Footnote 16: See, for example, Robert Henri, ‘The Mental Health Benefits of Urban Trees: A Deep Dive into Recent Research’, Tree Canada, 5 May 2025, https://treecanada.ca/article/the-mental-health-benefits-of-urban-trees-a-deep-dive-into-recent-research/.
Footnote 17: Wallace J. Nichols, Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do (Little, Brown and Company, 2014).
Footnote 18: Florence Williams, The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative (W. W. Norton & Company, 2017). This is a wonderful book exploring human connection to the outdoors. If nature is a strategy that feels like it might work for you, I highly recommend reading it.
Footnote 19: ‘Share of the World’s Population Living in Urban or Rural Areas from 1960 to 2026’, Statista, 2026, https://www.statista.com/statistics/1262483/global-urban-rural-population/.
Footnote 20: Mathew White, ‘Spending Just Two Hours a Week in Nature Is Linked to Better Health and Well-Being’, World Economic Forum, 19 June 2019, https://www.weforum.org/stories/health-and-healthcare-systems/spending-two-hours-a-week-in-nature-is-linked-to-better-health-and-well-being/.
Footnote 21: J. David Creswell et al., ‘Alterations in Resting-State Functional Connectivity Link Mindfulness Meditation With Reduced Interleukin-6: A Randomized Controlled Trial’, Biological Psychiatry 80, no. 1 (2016): 53–61, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2016.01.008.
Footnote 22: Adrienne A. Taren et al., ‘Mindfulness Meditation Training Alters Stress-Related Amygdala Resting State Functional Connectivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial’, Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience 10, no. 12 (2015): 1758–68, https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv066.
Footnote 23: Adrienne A. Taren et al., ‘Mindfulness Meditation Training and Executive Control Network Resting State Functional Connectivity: A Randomized Controlled Trial’, Psychosomatic Medicine 79, no. 6 (2017): 674–83, https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0000000000000466.
Footnote 24: Michael D. Mrazek et al., ‘Mindfulness Training Improves Working Memory Capacity and GRE Performance While Reducing Mind Wandering’, Psychological Science 24, no. 5 (2013): 776–81, https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612459659.
Footnote 25: Eileen Luders et al., ‘Forever Young(Er): Potential Age-Defying Effects of Long-Term Meditation on Gray Matter Atrophy’, Frontiers in Psychology 5 (January 2015): 1551, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01551.
Footnote 26: See the Meditation page on this website.
Footnote 27: James A. Blumenthal and Alan Rozanski, ‘Exercise as a Therapeutic Modality for the Prevention and Treatment of Depression’, Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases 77 (March 2023): 50–58, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pcad.2023.02.008.
Footnote 28: John J. Ratey, MD and Eric Hagerman, Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain (Little, Brown Spark, 2008).
Footnote 29: Hampshire et al., Lionheart.
Footnote 30: Jari A. Laukkanen et al., ‘Cardiovascular and Other Health Benefits of Sauna Bathing: A Review of the Evidence’, Mayo Clinic Proceedings 93, no. 8 (2018): 1111–21, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mayocp.2018.04.008.
Footnote 31: ‘5Rhythms’, accessed 14 August 2026, https://www.5rhythms.com/.
Footnote 32: Zsofia Maurer, ‘The Lived Experience and Transformational Potential of 5 Rhythms Dancing Meditation: An Intuitive Inquiry’, Consciousness, Spirituality & Transpersonal Psychology 2 (2021): 31–46, https://doi.org/10.53074/cstp.2021.23.
Footnote 33: For example, Neethu Asokan and Rajeshwari Ullagaddi, ‘Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) Detoxification: Transforming Stress to Strength’, Isuue-4 Oct-Dec-2025, Shodh Sari 4, no. 4 (2025): 3–15, https://doi.org/10.59231/SARI7860.
Footnote 34: For example, Nick Ortner, The Tapping Solution: A Revolutionary System for Stress-Free Living (Hay House, 2013).
Footnote 35: Suleika Jaouad, The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life (Random House, 2025).
Footnote 36: Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity (J.P. Tarcher/Putnam, 1992).
Footnote 37: Alex Mazzarisi, ‘The Power of Journaling: What Science Says About the Benefits for Mental Health and Well-Being’, Child Mind Institute, 28 January 2025, https://childmind.org/blog/the-power-of-journaling/.
Green ZoneFootnote 38: A potoroo is a tiny kangaroo-like marsupial, only found in Australia.
Footnote 39: ‘First Class Flight to Sydney for Abandoned Potoroo Baby’, NSW Department of Primary Industries, 2004, https://www.dpird.nsw.gov.au/content/archive/news-releases/forests/2004/potoroo_baby.
Footnote 40: You can see the video from this now defunct brand’s range here: Daniel Grey, Quince Clothing SS13: Lazy Summer Days, 2013, 01:17, https://youtu.be/OQ5oSYDQQTU.
Footnote 41: If you’d like to hear it, a video of Gurrumul singing it is here: Gurrumul Official, Gurrumul - Bapa (Live 2008), 2009, https://youtu.be/gyAa1-jOZpI.
Footnote 42: Ruth Chan, ‘A Follow up to the Original Grief Butter Comic’, Instagram, 26 June 2023, https://www.instagram.com/ohtruth/p/CtZWFFEgsLB/.
Footnote 43: Dale Carnegie, How to Win Friends and Influence People (Simon & Schuster, 1936).
Footnote 44: Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, On Death and Dying (Macmillan, 1960).
Footnote 45: Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005).
Footnote 46: Geraldine Brooks, Memorial Days (Hachette Australia, 2025).
Footnote 47: Atul Gawande, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End (Metropolitan Books, 2014).
Footnote 48: Paul Kalanithi, When Breath Becomes Air (Random House, 2016).
Footnote 49: Barbara Becker, Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind (Flatiron Books, 2021).
Footnote 50: Frank Ostaseski, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully (Flatiron Books, 2017).
Footnote 51: Jacinta Bowler, ‘What Is The Likelihood That You Exist?’, ScienceAlert, 14 December 2015, https://www.sciencealert.com/what-is-the-likelihood-that-you-exist.
Footnote 52: ‘The Death Clock’, accessed 14 August 2026, https://www.death-clock.org/.