Wild Voices: The mental health benefits of birdwatching, Joe Harkness
Joe Harkness (@birdtherapy) is a birdwatcher and blogger who focuses on the benefits of birdwatching for mental health. He runs the Bird Therapy blog (birdtherapy.blog) sharing these stories, and is currently fundraising to get his book on this topic published (unbound.com/books/bird-therapy). This is a hugely powerful and important conversation about a tough topic that doesn’t get enough coverage. And I’m so grateful that Joe is taking it on in such a public and bold way. I’ve had personal experience of mental health issues and so it was a huge privilege to speak to Joe, whose writing I’ve been following for a few years. I’m really proud to publish this conversation with him. In this conversation, which is gritty, raw and honest, we cover Joe’s battles with drugs and depression and he talks about his attempts to take his own life. And we also cover some amazing, beautiful and hilarious stories about birdwatching, and how rediscovering this passion helped him at one of his lowest moments. The Wild Voices Project podcast tells the stories of people saving nature. We are part of WILDVoices media, a global production team bridging emerging storytellers with aspiring environmental professionals. Find out more about us at wildvoicesproject.org. Learn more about the global community at wild-voices.org.